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y/it^-ut^oL^  Jlr^i'M^    4C%^-,-^pcWS, 


(o  jLa/uu^^'*^'^'^^''-^  r  ^  I, 


oL^o..^^y,  /r//. 


THE 


SHERRARD  FAMILY 

OF  STEUBENVILLE. 


BY 

ROBERT  ANDREW   SHERRARD. 


TOGETHER    WITH 

LETTERS,  RECORDS  AND  GENEALOGIES  OF 
RELATED  FAMILIES. 


EDITED    BY 

THOMAS   JOHNSON   SHERRARD. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
The  Jas.  B.  Rodgers  Printing  Company, 

52  and  54  North  Sixth  Street. 
1890. 


COPYRIGHT,  1890,  BT 

THOMAS   JOHNSON   SHERRAEU. 


33lg  31tatlter, 

WHOSE   SYMPATHETIC  AND   WISE  COUNSEL, 

SUSTAINED    HER   HUSBAND   THROUGHOUT   A   BEAUTIFUL  AND    DEVOTED 

MARRIED   LIFE   OF   NEARLY   HALF   A   CENTURY  ; 

WHOSE   PATIENT  AND  LOVING   MOTHERLY   CARE   REARED    A    FAMILY 

OF   SIX   SONS  AND   SIX    DAUGHTERS  ; 

WHOSE   DEVOTED   FAITH   AND   LOVELY   CHRISTIAN    LIFE 

HAVE   EVER   BEEN   THEIR   INSPIRING   EXAMPLE  ;    WHOSE   PEACEFUL 

DECLINING   DAYS,   WHEN   SHE   IS   NOW  IN    HER    EIGHTY-SIXTH   YEAR,    WITNESS 

THE   FILIAL   INTEREST  OF  ALL   HER   CHILDREN 

AND   children's  CHILDREN, 

who  joyfully  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed, 

to  this  dear  mother 

these  pages  are  affectionately  inscribed  by  her  youngest  child, 

Thomas  Johnson  Sheerard. 


PRKFACK. 


T^IVE  years  ago  the  matter  of  my  ancestry  was  brought  prominently  to 
■*■  my  attention  by  the  questions  of  my  eldest  son,  Hallock  Campbell 
Sherrard,  then  ten  years  of  age,  who  wished  to  know  something  about  all 
of  his  ancestors  as  far  back  as  possible.  He  had  already  searched  out  his 
lineage  on  his  mother's  side  through  the  Campbells,  and  Olivers,  and 
Lyons,  and  Hallocks,  and  Griffiths,  and  Aliens,  and  it  now  remained  for 
him  to  investigate  his  descent  on  his  father's  side  of  the  house.  In  order 
to  satisfactorily  answer  these  inquiries,  I  began  to  search  my  father's  MS. 
volumes,  and  I  became  so  much  interested  in  them  that  I  determined  to 
select  out  such  portions  as  would  give  a  complete  history  of  the  Sherrard 
Family  of  Steubenville,  of  which  my  father,  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard,  was 
the  founder  and  head. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  January  i,  1874,  he  had  accumulated  no 
fewer  than  ten  thousand  pages  of  written  material,  which  covered  a  great 
variety  of  subjects,  including  Family  History  and  Personal  Recollections. 
This  had  been  the  work  of  his  leisure  moments  for  fifty  years  before 
his   death. 

At  first  my  only  purpose  was  to  collect  and  copy  from  all  these 
sources  such  items  as  would  make  a  continuous  and  complete  history  of 
the  family.  The  work  of  writing  I  began  about  two  years  ago,  copying 
carefully  on  the  type-writer,  intending  to  have  the  whole  beautifully  bound 
for  the  use  of  my  own  children.  However,  I  had  not  written  more  than 
fifty  pages,  when  my  brothers  and  sisters,  seeing  my  specimen  pages, 
became  so  much  interested  in  my  work  that  they  regretted  that  my  method 
would  result  in  only  a  single  copy  of  the  book. 

It  was  then  that  my  brother,  Robert  Sherrard,  Jr.,  of  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  proposed  that  if  I  would  continue  my  work  of  editing  my  father's 
Family  History,  and  would  prepare  it  for  the  printer,  he  would  assume  the 
responsibility  of  having  it  published,  so  that  the  other  descendants  of 
Robert   Andrew   Sherrard,    might   each    be   able    to   possess   a   copy.       Thus 


vi  PREFA  CE. 

my  work  assumed  a  more  general  character,  and  I  selected  such  material 
as  would  interest  the  general  reader  as  well  as  our  own  immediate  family. 

Then  in  addition  to  my  father's  own  material  at  hand,  I  have  gathered 
from  correspondence,  personal  visits  to  places,  and  personal  interviews 
with  various  people,  the  material  with  which  I  have  been  able  to  bring 
the  history  of  the  whole  family  and  connections  down  to  the  present 
time.  Perhaps  the  chief  difficulty  of  the  whole  undertaking  has  been  the 
"embarrassment  of  riches,"  to  decide  just  what  to  select  from  my  father's 
writings  in  order  to  make  a  book  of  permanent  value,  and  yet  bring  the 
volume  within  reasonable  limits.  Very  much  that  would  have  been  of 
great  interest  has  of  necessity  been  left  out,  and  yet  only  because  not 
necessary  as  a  part  of  the  Family  History.  Indeed  I  may  say  to  all  the 
relatives  that  nothing  has  been  overlooked  that  would  be  of  permanent 
value  to  the  family  and  their  descendants.  Up  to  the  point  where  I  have 
taken  up  the  "Later  Events  and  Personal  Sketches"  in  my  own  language, 
I  have  been  careful  to  retain  the  language,  and  the  oftentimes  quaint 
expressions  of  my  father. 

This  work  is  intended  to  be  a  Centennial  Memorial  of  my  father's 
birth,  although  coming  out  one  year  later,  since  it  was  impossible  to 
complete  it  sooner.  Knowing  so  well,  as  all  his  children  do,  his  tastes 
and  enthusiasm  over  anything  pertaining  to  Family  History  and  Ancestral 
Reminiscences,  nothing  could  possibly  be  a  more  fitting  tribute  to  his 
memory  than  this  volume.  Busily  occupied  with  this  work  and  looking 
forward  to  its  comfiletion,  it  has  often  been  to  me  a  matter  of  curious 
reflection  to  wonder  what  he  would  think  and  say,  if  he  were  here  to  see 
this  book  for  himself, — a  work  which  of  all  others  he  would  have  rejoiced 
in,  had  he  known  that  his  youngest  son  would  attempt  it. 

This  is  my  humble  contribution  to  the  memory  of  noble  and  honorable 
ancestors,  sent  forth  with  the  warmest  congratulations  to  the  descendants  of 
a  pure-minded,  generous,  honorable  and  intelligent  Christian  father, — one 
who  has  left  us  the  precious  heritage  of  an  honored  name,  a  useful  life, 
and  an  inspiring  example. 

Recognizing  with  deepest  gratitude  the  All-wise  Providence  who  has 
guided  our  family  destiny,  we  all  have  the  highest  reasons  for  self-con- 
gratulation that  we  are  descended  from  such  a  long  line  of  God-fearing 
ancestors,  whether  they  be  the  Gambles,  the  Sherrards,  the  Cathcarts, 
the  Kithcarts,  the  Johnsons,  or  the  Hindmans.  After  my  most  careful 
investigation  of  our   ancestry,  tracing    it   back  over   two  centuries  as   far  as 


PREFACE.  vii 

names  could  be  found,  I  have  failed  to  discover  a  single  instance  of  an 
ancestor  in  any  of  these  related  families,  of  whom  we  have  the  slightest 
reason  to  be  ashamed.  That  this  book  may  stimulate  a  deeper  interest  in 
the  Family  History  and  Genealogy  is  my  earnest  desire. 

My  grateful  acknowledgements  are  due  to  Dr.  William  H.  Egle, 
our  State  Librarian  at  Harrisburg,  for  suggestions,  and  to  the  "  Family 
Records  of  the  Gambles  of  Toronto  ' '   for  corroborating  facts. 

Thomas   Johnson   Sherrard. 

WiisJuii^'/oii,  Pa..  May  4.  iSgo. 


CONTKNTS. 


I.  FAMILY  HISTORY. 


SECTION     I. 

1772-1784. 
The  Emigration ■••...  1-34 

SECTION     II. 

1 784- 1 805. 

The  Mountain  Home 34-47 

SECTION     III. 

1805-1810. 

Pioneer  Life 48-81 

SECTION     IV. 

1810-1811. 

Captina  Experiences 81-97 

SECTION     V. 

1811-1815. 

The  Rush  Run  Mili, 97-114 

SECTION     VI. 
1815-1816. 

First  Courtship  and  Marriage 114-131 

ix 


X  CONTENTS. 

SECTION     VII. 

1816-1817. 

Married  Life 132-150 

SECTION     VIII. 

1S17-1821. 

Trading  Down  the  River ...      151-177 


SECTION     IX. 


1821-1824. 
Famii,y  Afklictions 178-200 

SECTION     X. 

1824-1S26. 

Various  Journeys 201-207 

SECTION     XI. 

1826-1S27. 

Second  Courtship  and  Marriage 208-225 

SECTION     X  I  I. 

1827-1830. 

The  Milling  Busine.ss 226-235 

SECTION     XIII. 

1830-1S33. 

Life  at  Pleasant  Hill 235-246 

SECTION     XIV. 

I 833- I 845 

Sugar  Hill  Farm 247-273 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION     XV. 


I 845- I 890. 
Later  Events  and  Personal  Sketches 274-328 


11.    FAMILY  LETTERS. 

1774-1S89. 

I.  Old  Letters 329-353 

II.  Letters  from  the  Five  Brothers 353-359 

III.  Birthday  Letters 359-362 

IV.  Shebrard  Antiquities 362-364 

V.  Irvine  Antiquities 364-366 


III.    FAMILY  RECORDS. 

I.  The  Sherrard  Records 367-372 

II.  The  Gamble  Records 372-380 

III.  The  Cathcart  Records 380-3S2 

IV.  The  Kithcart  Records 383-385 

V.  The  Johnson  Records 386-392 

VI.  The  Hindman  Records 392-394 


IV.   FAMILY  GENEALOGIES. 

I.  The  Sherrard  Genealogy 396-397 

II.  The  Gamble  Genealogies 39S-399 

III.  The  Kithcart  Genealogies 400-401 

IV.  The  Johnson  Genealogy.  . 402-403 


THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 


I.  FAMILY  HISTORY. 


S  RCTIO  N      I. 

I 772-1784. 

THE  EMIGRATION. 

JOHN  SHERRARD  was  born  in  Ireland  near  Newton  Limavady, 
a  flourishing  town  situated  on  a  stream  that  empties  itself  into 
Lough  Foyle,  about  ten  miles  from  Londonderry,  the  capital  of 
the  county  of  the  same  name,  which  is  situated  on  the  opposite  side  of 
Lough  Foyle  at  the  head  of  the  bay. 

Newton  Limavady  is  also  about  eight  miles  from  Coleraine,  another 
town  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  Bann  Water,  and  lies  in  a  north- 
east direction  from  the  town  of  Limavady.  John  Sherrard  was  de- 
scended from  a  race  of  respectable  people.  His  father,  William  Sher- 
rard, was  born  in  the  year  1720  in  the  town  of  Limavady,  and  at  thirty 
years  of  age  he  was  married  to  a  Margaret  Johnston,  of  good  fortune 
and  respectable  connections. 

John  Sherrard  was  the  first  pledge  of  their  mutual  affection,  and  was 
born  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1750.  He  had  but  one  brother  and 
three  sisters,  and  all  the  children  were  under  age  at  the  time  of  their 
father's  death,  except  my  father,  John.  The  eldest  of  his  sisters  was 
born  in  1752,  and  was  named  Elizabeth;  the  second  was  born  in  1755, 
and  was  named  Margaret;  his  brother  James  was  born  in  1757,  and  his 
youngest  sister  in  1760. 

1 


2  THE  SHERRARD   EAMILY.  [1772. 

My  grandfather,  William  Sherrard,  died  wealthy  in  177 1;  but  pre- 
vious to  his  death  he  made  a  will,  in  and  by  which  he  willed  and 
bequeathed  the  freehold,  consisting  of  about  133  acres,  to  my  father 
and  his  brother  James ;  while  to  his  wife  Margaret  and  to  each  of  his 
daughters  he  bequeathed  the  sum  of  two  hundred  guineas. 

I  have  received  information  from  my  father,  John  Sherrard,  that  a 
whole  clan  of  the  name  of  Sherrard  (commonly  corrupted  by  the  coun- 
try people  to  the  name  Shearer  or  Sherred,  but  as  commonly  called  by 
the  people  in  the  towns  and  villages  by  their  proper  name,  "  Sherrard  ") 
came  over  from  Scotland  to  Ireland  at  an  early  day. 

(Our  old  uncle,  David  Alexander  Cathcart  Sherrard,  told  us  after 
father's  death  that  he  had  knowledge  that  the  Sherrard  name  was 
Huguenot  stock,  and  came  from  the  North  of  France.  Driven  out  by 
the  Huguenot  persecutions,  they  fled  to  Scotland,  and  afterwards  re- 
moved to  the  North  of  Ireland. — T.  J.  S.) 

This  clan  left  the  lowlands  of  Scotland,  and  upon  the  invitation  of 
some  Scottish  lord  or  laird,  they  passed  over  into  Ireland  To  such  a 
Scottish  lord.  King  James  the  Sixth  of  Scotland,  and  the  First  of  Eng- 
land, had  doubtless  given  a  large  amount  of  land,  which  had  been  con- 
fiscated in  consequence  of  the  native  Irish  rebelling  against  the  authority 
of  King  James  as  their  lawful  sovereign.  This  colony  of  Sherrards  set- 
tled in  County  Derry,  principally  in  and  around  the  village  of  Newton 
Limavady,  as  before  mentioned.  It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the 
inhabitants  of  this  town  of  Newton  Limavady  a  century  since  spoke  as 
pure  English,  with  few  exceptions,  as  they  did  in  London.  And  I  knew 
several  relations  of  my  father's  that  came  over  from  County  Derry,  and 
were  reared  not  far  from  Newton  Limavady,  who  all  spoke  with  as 
broad  a  Scotch  twang  as  Robert  Burns,  the  poet,  did  in  poetry  or  prose; 
these  relatives  of  my  father  came  from  Ireland  about  1795.  My  grand- 
father, William  Sherrard,  had  been  a  successful  linen  weaver,  and  kept 
a  number  of  looms  at  work  weaving  Irish  linen,  and  he  died  wealthy. 

Even  before  his  father's  death,  John  Sherrard  had  a  desire  to  emigrate 
to  America;  and  after  his  father's  death,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  years, 
he  carried  out  this  desire. 

After  some  consultation  with  his  friends,  he   sold  his   share  of  the 


1773.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  3 

freehold  estate,  which  had  been  left  him  by  his  father,  to  his  mother  for 
two  hundred  guineas,  the  sum  left  her  by  her  husband's  will. 

JOHN   SHERRARD   EMIGRATES   TO   AMERICA. 

With  this  sum  and  what  small  cash  he  had,  he  set  sail  for  America 
in  the  month  of  August,  1772,  but  did  not  make  tjie  American  port 
until  the  last  of  the  month  of  October  following.  The  voyage  was  long 
and  difficult,  taking  fourteen  weeks,  and  was  so  tedious  that  the  crew 
on  the  vessel,  which  v/as  called  "  The  Wolf,"  were  nearly  starved,  the 
provisions  had  grown  so  scarce ;  however,  they  all  landed  safe,  but 
almost  famished  at  Philadelphia;  but  the  vessel  did  not  return  to  Ire- 
land until  the  ne.xt  spring. 

My  father,  John  Sherrard,  stopped  in  Philadelphia,  and  wintered  in 
and  near  that  place  till  spring.  Then,  in  the  spring  of  1773,  he  set  out 
from  Philadelphia  with  a  light  heart  and  a  pocket  full  of  cash  to  seek 
his  fortunes  west  of  the  mountains  in  what  was  then  called  the  back 
woods.  For  his  route  he  was  obliged  to  take  the  road  that  was  opened 
by  General  Braddock  for  his  troops  in  1755,  when  that  British  officer 
crossed  the  Allegheny  Mountains  to  attack  the  French  army  at  Fort 
Duquesne — since  Fort  Pitt,  and  now  called  the  City  of  Pittsburgh. 

I  say,  my  father  was  obliged  to  take  that  road,  for  it  was  the  only 
open  road  in  those  days  across  the  mountains ;  and  so  he  journeyed 
across  to  the  backwoods,  and  when  he  arrived  at  the  foot  of  Laurel 
Hill,  he  found  the  country  west  of  the  mountains  a  wilderness  indeed 
and  a  solitary  place.  However,  on  entering  the  valley  below  Laurel 
Hill,  he  found  some  few  white  inhabitants  who  had  ventured  before  him. 
Among  these,  settled  near  the  Youghiogheny  River,  were  the  following- 
named  persons:  George  Paull,  Joseph  Work,  John  McClelland,  Daniel 
Cannon,  William  Carson,  Sr.,  William  Rankin,  H.  Beeson,  Robert 
McGlaughlin,  Elisha  Pierce  and  Archibald  Armstrong. 

These  had  taken  up  their  residences  on  the  west  side  of  the  Yough 
River,  and  some  other  odd  ones,  among  whom  was  Matthew  Wiley ; 
and  on  the  east  side  of  the  Yough  River  lived  James  Torrence,  Barney 
Cunningham,  Joseph  Huston  and  Colonel  Prov.  Mounts — (after  him 
Mounts'  Creek  was  called,  which  name  it  bears  to  this  day) ;  also  Elias 
Pegg,  father  of  Benjamin  Pegg,  a  hero  of  the   Revolutionary  War,  and 


4  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1773. 

who  is  now,  at  the  time  of  this  writing — 1825 — a  pensioner  at  the  rate 
of  $96  a  year,  and  many  others  whose  names  it  would  be  useless  to 
record  in  this  history. 

THE   REDSTONE   SETTLEMENT. 

But  to  return  to  my  father:  On  his  arrival  in  the  backwoods  he  took 
up  his  abode  and  resided  in  the  family  of  George  Paull,  and  here  he 
soon  got  acquainted  with  the  inhabitants  for  ten  or  twelve  miles  around. 
This  was  the  more  readily  done  as  the  inhabitants  were  so  fevt'  and  so 
scattered  that  when  a  log  rolling  or  a  house  or  barn  raising  was  on  ' 
hand,  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  call  on  assistance  ten  or  twelve 
miles  off.  While  he  made  his  residence  at  the  house  of  Mr.  George 
Paull,  he  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Archibald  Irvin,  brother-in-law 
to  Mr.  George  Paull,  of  whom  he  made  a  purchase  of  a  certain  tract  of 
land  containing  upwards  of  3000  acres. 

This  was  purchased  the  fall  of  1773;  but  the  year  following,  Thomas 
Gist  came  out  with  the  King's  patent,  and  took  up  the  tract  now  owned 
by  the  heirs  of  old  Isaac  Mason,  lying  on  the  State  road  from  Con- 
nellsville  to  Uniontown,  and  where  Braddock's  old  road  crosses  the 
aforesaid  State  road.  Gist  also  ran  his  lines  right  or  wrong  through 
tlie  purchase  that  my  father  made  of  Irvin. 

This  wrong  Gist  committed  wittingly;  for  he  ran  the  lines  on  my 
father's  purchase  so  as  to  cross  and  recross  Dunbar's  Run  (now  called 
Dunbar's  Creek),  so  as  to  take  in  a  good  mill  seat,  which  is  an  object 
of  importance  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

This  mill  seat  Gist  soon  improved,  and  some  time  after  Gist's  death 
the  property  was  purchased  by  Mason  and  Dillon  of  Gist's  heirs.  A 
furnace  was  erected  by  them  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  above  the  mill, 
and  by  the  profits  of  this  furnace  Mason  soon  found  means  to  purchase 
Dillon's  part.  He  then  pursued  the  business  with  such  success  that  he 
was  soon  enabled  to  build  a  forge  on  the  same  land  and  stream,  and  so 
progressed  until  he  built  the  second,  and  then  a  third  furnace,  and  the 
second  forge,  and  then  purchased  a  third  forge,  and  also  thousands  of 
acres  of  land,  and  then  laid  down  and  died,  as  you  and  I  must  ere 
long  do. 


1774.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  5 

THE    KENTUCKY    LAND. 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  1774,  my  father,  John  Sherrard,  in  com- 
pany with  about  twenty  others,  set  out  from  their  place  of  residence  in 
Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  for  the  express  purpose  of  taking  up 
land  in  the  new  country  called  Kentucky.  They  entered  on  board  a 
boat  built  for  their  purpose  at  what  was  then  called  the  Broad  Ford,  on 
the  Youghiogheny  River,  two  miles  below  where  Connellsville  is  now 
built.  Each  man  went  prepared  with  necessary  implements  of  hus- 
bandry. My  father's  tools  consisted  of  an  axe,  a  mattock,  a  hoe,  a 
shovel-plow,  an  iron  wedge  and  a  rifle  gun.  The  company  all  landed 
safe  at  Limestone  (since  called  Maysville),  on  the  Ohio  River,  and  from 
thence  proceeded  out  from  the  river  in  quest  of  a  situation  to  please 
their  fancy  and  suit  their  inclination.  They  at  length  stopped  and 
encamped  near  to  where  the  towns  of  Lexington  and  Millersburg  have 
since  been  built.  Each  man  soon  selected  the  spot  on  which  to  build 
his  cabin,  and  soon  built  and  made  some  improvements  by  clearing  and 
fencing. 

My  father  cleared  and  fenced  in  about  three  acres,  and  planted  the 
same  with  Indian  Corn,  and  attended  the  same  so  long  as  was  neces- 
sary;  the  rest  of  the  company  each  improved  to  suit  himself. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  in  this  place  that  the  tract  of  country 
now  called  Kentucky  then  belonged  to  Virginia.  (In  1776  Kentucky 
was  made  a  county  of  Virginia;  in  1790  it  became  a  separate  territory, 
and  in  1792  it  was  admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union,  with  the  motto 
on  its  Seal :  "  United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall.")  It  was  at  that  time 
under  the  control  of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  which  passed  laws  for 
the  selling  of  this  part  of  her  territory.  The  settlers  at  this  time — 1774 
— had  the  privilege  by  law  to  take  up  by  improvement  or  what  was 
called  "  tomahawk  right."  Under  this  privilege  they  could  take  up 
and  have  surveyed  400  acres,  and  by  making  return  of  the  survey  to 
the  office,  a  right  was  issued  which  served  in  lieu  of  a  deed  for  the 
present. 

But  the  same  act  of  the  Legislature  gave  a  pre-emption  to  such  set- 
tlers as  would,  after  they  had  made  their  tomahawk  improvement,  stay 
and   raise  a  crop   of  corn ;   the   same  Act  gave  them  the  privilege  of 


6  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1775. 

taking  by  survey  looo  acres  more,  and  attach  it  to  the  400  first  guaran- 
teed by  tomahawk  right.  Thus  the  settler  who  raised  his  corn  had 
1400  acres  in  his  tract,  for  which  he  could  obtain  his  right. 

And  this  my  father  and  his  comrades  did :  they  each  stayed  as 
before-mentioned,  and  raised  a  crop  of  corn,  which  was  performed  some 
time  in  June,  1774,  at  which  time  the  Indians  made  some  show  of  hos- 
tilities. This  induced  my  father  and  his  party  to  leave  their  new-made 
farms  and  return  home  to  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  through  a 
trackless  wilderness.  But  they  did  not  leave  their  improvements  till 
each  hid  his  implements  of  husbandry. 

My  father  dug  a  hole,  and  put  first  his  axe,  wedge,  hoe,  mattock  and 
shovel-plow  in,  and  then  took  his  bake-oven,  commonly  called  a 
"  Dutch  oven,"  and  turned  it  down  on  the  other  tools,  and  covered  all 
up  near  a  certain  tree,  which  he  marked  for  the  purpose  of  finding  them 
again,  should  he  live  to  return  to  his  farm  at  a  future  day,  which  he  did 
not  do  for  twenty  years  after. 

On  his  return  to  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  he  found  it  would  be 
prudent  to  repair  to  Williamsburgh,  Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
out  a  right  for  his  new  farm  containing  1400  acres,  from  which  place  he 
crossed  into  Pennsylvania  State,  and  resided  near  Lancaster  until  the 
next  spring  of  1775.  At  this  time — the  spring  of  1775 — he  joined  a 
volunteer  company  of  militia  called  "  The  Flying  Camp  of  Pennsylva- 
nia," and  they  marched  all  the  way  on  foot  to  Boston. 

It  was  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  that  the  first  blood  was  shed  at 
Lexington  and  Concord  near  Boston,  and  in  this  engagement  my  father, 
John  Sherrard,  tried  himself  as  a  soldier  against  the  British  troops  sent 
to  destroy  some  military  stores  which  belonged  to  the  rebels. 

He  was  next  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  on  the  17th  of  June,  1775, 
and  before  the  close  of  the  year  he  was  in  a  number  of  skirmishes,  but 
in  no  other  hard-fought  battle  until  his  year's  service  as  a  volunteer  had 
expired,  which  was  the  last  of  March,  1776.  At  this  time  he  returned 
to  Lancaster,  where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1778,  when  he 
returned  to  Fayette  County,  and  again  took  up  his  home  in  the  family 
of  George  PauU,  and  was  employed  there  for  several  years. 


1777.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  7 

NATURALIZATION   OF  JOHN   SHERRARD. 

While  livincr  at  Lancaster,  my  father  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  United  States  at  that  place  December  29,  1777,  and  the  following  is 
a  copy  of  the  certificate  of  his  naturalization  : 

G  I  Do    hereby    certify,    that  John    Sherrard   hath  H 

m  voluntarily  taken  and  subscribed  the  OA  TH  of  Alle-  uj 

Cj  glance  and  Fidelity,  as  directed  by  an  Act  of  the  3 

H  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  passed  the  ijth  m 

S      Day  of  Jnne,  IJ7J.  3 

E  H 

nj  JVitness  my  Hand  and   Seal,   the   2^th  Day  of    K 

K  December,  Anno  Domini  1777.                                          3 

g  Thomas  Whiteside.     [L.  S.]          [3 

m  No.   II.                                                                                                      S 

In  nJ 

K  Lancaster:   Printed  by  Francis  Bailey.                   }f| 

^asasasHsasHsasHsasasEsasasasasasasasasEsasasHsasa^ 

The  certificate  of  which  the  above  is  a  correct  copy  was  kept  in  our 
family  for  many  years,  and  it  was  found  to  be  of  some  service  the  fall 
of  1820  at  the  October  election  in  Ohio.  The  trustees  of  Warren 
Township,  Jefferson  County,  had  become  so  extremely  radical  that  they 
concluded  to  stop  from  voting,  not  only  all  persons  of  foreign  birth  who 
were  not  naturalized,  but  also  all  sons  of  aliens,  although  born  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States.  This  was  the  situation  of  my  brother 
John  and  myself;  but,  on  presenting  this  certificate  of  our  father's  natu- 
ralization, we  were  permitted  to  vote  ever  after.  (This  original  certificate 
of  naturalization  is  still  in  existence,  and  is  now  in  possession  of  my 
brother,  John  Hindman  Sherrard,  of  Rockville,  Ind. — T.  J.  S.) 

JOHN   SHERRARD'S   part   IN   THE   REVOLUTION. 

(There  is  evidently  some  confusion  in  the  facts  as  stated  by  father 
when  he  speaks  of  his  father,  John  Sherrard,  taking  part  in  the  battles 


8  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1775. 

of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill;  for  contemporary  history  does  not  bear 
out  the  statement  that  the  "  Flying  Camp"  took  part  in  those  battles  at 
the  opening  of  the  war.  Congress  did  not  authorize  the  organization  of 
the  "Flying  Camp"  until  June  3,  1776, — more  than  a  year  after  the 
beginning  of  the  war. 

The  act  authorized  the  enlisting  of  10,000  men,  and  this  famous 
"  Camp"  was  composed  of  men  from  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Dela- 
ware, under  command  of  General  Hugh  Mercer,  who  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Princeton,  January  3,  1777.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  only  a  few 
Massachusetts  militia  were  engaged  at  Lexington,  and  only  troops  from 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  were  engaged  at  Bun- 
ker Hill,  and,  so  far  as  is  known,  there  were  no  Pennsylvania  troops  in 
those  battles.  Indeed,  it  was  the  former  battle  of  April  19,  1775,  that 
first  aroused  the  country,  and  up  to  that  time  not  a  single  company  had 
ever  been  formed  at  or  around  Lancaster. 

After  this  the  citizens  of  the  county  and  town  of  Lancaster,  under  the 
Act  of  the  Continental  Congress  of  June  14,  1775,  met,  and  two  compa- 
nies of  "expert  riflemen"  were  formed  under  command  of  Captains 
James  Ross  and  Matthew  Smith.  These  companies  enlisted  for  one 
year  from  July  i,  1775,  and  marched  to  Boston,  arriving  at  Cambridge, 
August  13,  1775.  They  took  part  in  the  skirmishes  of  that  summer 
and  fall,  and  remained  with  Washington  near  Boston  all  winter.  It  is 
altogether  probable  that  Grandfather  John  Sherrard  was  in  one  of  these 
companies  of  "  expert  riflemen,"  and  that  he  did  return  to  Lancaster 
the  spring  of  1776.  When  we  know  that  during  the  summer  of  1776 
different  companies  were  organized  in  and  around  Lancaster  for  the 
"  Flying  Camp,"  and  these  served,  some  for  two  months,  and  some  for 
a  longer  period,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  grandfather  joined  the  "  Fly- 
ing Camp"  at  that  time,  and  continued  in  the  active  service  as  a  Revo- 
lutionary soldier  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period,  and  was  back  in  Lan- 
caster at  the  close  of  the  year  1777,  when  he  was  naturalized.  He  then 
left  Lancaster  the  spring  of  1778,  and  went  out  to  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia again. 

It  is  stated  in  the  "  History  of  Lancaster  County  "  that  "  Many  of  the 
militia  returned  home  after  a  two  months'  tour  of  duty,  but  the  com- 
mands  which  joined  the   '  Flying   Camp  '   generally  remained  until   the 


1782.]  FAMIL  V  HISTOR  V.  9 

following  winter,  taking  part  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island  on  the  27th 
of  August,  1776;  in  the  later  movements  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York; 
in  the  retreat  across  New  Jersey  to  the  Delaware  River  in  December ; 
and  in  the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton."     (T.  J.  S.) 

The  day  that  my  father  arrived  back  in  Fayette  County  from  Lan- 
caster, the  spring  of  1778,  was  the  same  day  of  the  funeral  of  old  George 
PauU,  April  i,  1778.  Father  met  the  funeral  procession  before  he 
reached  the  house,  and  he  turned  about  and  saw  the  remains  of  his 
deceased  friend  placed  in  the  old  graveyard  at  Laurel  Hill,  which  is 
about  one  mile  east  of  the  present  Laurel  Hill  Church. 

On  October  26,  1854,  my  brother,  David,  took  me  to  this  old  grave- 
yard and  showed  me  the  grave  of  my  grandfather,  Alexander  Cath- 
cart,  who  died  April  15,  1780,  and  was  buried  there  the  next  day;  the 
grave  of  my  mother,  Mary  Cathcart  Sherrard,  who  died  October  27, 
1833,  and  was  buried  there  the  next  day;  also  the  graves  of  Uncle 
David  and  Aunt  Susanna  Cathcart.  He  showed  me  also  the  grave  of 
George  Paull,  the  father  of  Col.  James  Paull,  who  died  March  31,  1778, 
and  was  buried  there  the  following  day. 

This  graveyard  was  opened  for  burial  and  a  square  log  meeting-house 
was  erected  the  summer  and  fall  of  1774,  and  the  first  Laurel  Hill  con- 
gregation was  gathered  and  preached  to  and  organized  at  that  place  in 
1774  by  the  Rev.  James  Power. 

Crawford's  campaign. 

My  father,  John  Sherrard,  continued  to  live  with  the  family  of  the 
deceased,  George  Paull,  and  was  engaged  in  business  with  them  for 
three  or  four  years  after  his  return  from  Lancaster.  In  the  fall  of  1782 
he  joined  with  many  of  his  neighbors  the  e.xpedition  known  as  Craw- 
ford's Campaign  against  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest. 

In  the  spring  of  that  year  the  scheme  had  been  formed  for  the 
destruction  of  the  Indian  town  at  Upper  Sandusky.  Volunteer  com- 
panies were  formed,  which  rendezvoused  at  different  places,  and  the 
general  command  was  given  to  Colonel  William  Crawford,  who  was 
from  the  vicinity  of  Connellsville.  After  getting  the  troops  of  light 
horse  and  the  necessary  equipage  ready,  he  marched  the  troops  from 
Beesontown,  now  Uniontown,  on  the  20th  of  May,  and  they  proceeded 


10  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1782. 

to  the  Old  Fort,  now  Brownsville,  where  more  volunteers  joined  them. 
On  May  22d  they  arrived  in  Washington,  the  county-seat  of  Washington 
County,  where  they  were  joined  by  still  more  volunteers. 

They  left  Washington  on  May  24th,  and  on  the  25th  they  arrived  at 
the  Ohio  River,  and  crossed  the  river  on  the  26th.  The  place  where 
they  crossed  was  at  Mingo  Bottom,  above  the  mouth  of  Cross  Creek, 
and  three  miles  below  where  Steubenville  now  stands.  After  crossing 
the  river,  this  army  of  482  mounted  men  crossed  over  the  Indian  Cross 
Creek  to  the  west  side,  and  marched  up  over  the  ridge  on  the  old 
Indian  trail,  which  led  from  Mingo  Bottom  northwestward.  This  trail 
ran  only  a  little  to  the  north  of  Smithfield  and  Cadiz,  but  these  towns 
have  been  laid  out  and  improved  since  the  year  1804. 

This  Indian  trail  also  continued  on  to  the  place  where  New  Philadel- 
phia now  stands,  near  which  there  then  stood  the  Moravian  towns, 
occupied  at  that  time  by  friendly  Indians  professing  Christianity.  I 
well  know  that  in  the  year  1805  this  Indian  trail  from  Mingo  passing 
near  Smithfield  and  so  onward  to  the  Moravian  towns  was  not  only  a 
plain  pathway,  but  it  was  at  that  time  and  had  been  for  years  bygone 
used  by  the  whites  who  resided  in  Western  Virginia,  and  also  by  the 
white  people  who  had  settled  near  Steubenville,  and  as  far  down  the 
Ohio  as  the  mouth  of  Indian  Short  Creek,  as  a  road  or  pathway  in  their 
trading  tours  to  the  Moravian  towns,  along  which  they  carried  flour, 
whiskey,  powder  and  lead,  and  such  other  articles  as  best  suited  to  carry 
on  a  trade  with  the  Indians ;  for  which  the  white  traders  in  return 
received  money,  deer  and  bear  skins,  and  furs  of  different  kinds. 

The  distance  through  Ohio  from  where  the  army  crossed  the  river, 
on  the  nearest  route  they  could  go,  might  be  estimated  at  175  miles  to 
Upper  Sandusky,  making  better  than  20  miles  they  marched  each  day. 
It  was  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  June  when  they  arrived  near  the  San- 
dusky plains,  and  the  action  began,  the  Indians  being  in  readiness  await- 
ing the  attack,  for  they  had  been  apprized  of  the  coming  of  our  troops 
by  their  spies,  as  also  their  number  and  situation. 

THE   BATTLE   ON   SANDUSKY   PLAINS. 

The  day  was  very  hot  and  sultry,  and  our  troops  suffered  very  much 
from  the  want  of  water;  the  sulphurous  smoke  of  the  powder  combined 


1782.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  11 

with  the  heat  of  the  day  caused  great  thirst,  and  much  exhausted  the 
spirits  of  our  troops.  This  day  Daniel  Cannon  and  two  others  climbed 
up  the  trees  behind  which  they  at  first  had  stationed  themselves,  and 
there,  secure  from  the  fire  of  the  Indians,  fired  their  deadly  shots ;  but 
when  night  came  on  they  descended  again  to  the  ground.  This  day 
also,  while  the  battle  raged  strong,  and  the  heat  and  thirst  raged  still 
stronger,  while  all  the  troops  along  the  line  were  busy  firing  on  the 
Indians,  and  none  durst  leave  the  tree  which  sheltered  him  from  the 
balls  of  the  enemy,  my  father  resolved  to  go  in  search  of  water. 

He  leaned  his  gun  against  the  tree  that  sheltered  him  from  danger, 
and  set  off  to  seek  water,  which  was  a  scarce  article  on  the  plains  of 
Sandusky  at  that  season  of  the  year.  However  he  found  where  a  large 
tree  had  been  blown  out  by  the  roots,  and  in  the  hollow  place  left  there 
was  a  pool  of  water.  It  was  not  good,  but  it  was  better  than  none,  and 
he  quenched  his  thirst,  and  carried  some  back  to  his  almost  famished 
comrades  in  his  canteen. 

With  another  canteen  he  returned  for  more  water,  and  again  and 
again  he  brought  water  to  his  company.  I  have  heard  my  father  often 
say  that  as  he  passed  and  repassed  carrying  the  water  he  could  hear  the 
bullets  whistle  to  the  right  and  left  of  him,  and  yet  he  was  still  pre- 
served amidst  the  scenes  of  danger  and  carnage. 

Mr.  John  Rodgers,  who  belonged  to  the  same  company,  and  whose 
thirst  was  quenched  from  my  father's  canteen,  informed  me  long  since 
my  father's  death,  that  he  knew  not  how  my  father  escaped,  exposed  as 
he  was,  when  none  else  along  the  line  would  undertake  such  a  danger- 
ous task,  and  that  he  passed  near  the  head  of  the  company  supplying 
them  with  water,  and  a  soldier  belonging  to  the  adjoining  company 
asked  for  a  drink,  which  was  given  him;  but  my  father  told  him,  at  the 
same  time,  that  if  he  wanted  any  more  it  was  free  for  him  if  he  would 
only  venture  for  it. 

They  had  arrived  on  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  June,  and  this  first 
day's  battle  was  on  the  5th,  and  although  the  day's  work  was  ended,  the 
troops  got  no  sleep  that  night,  for  they  skirmished,  by  turns,  all  night; 
and  as  soon  as  daylight  was  come  the  battle  was  renewed  with  vigor  on 
both  sides ;  but  the  Indians,  this  second  day,  had  greatly  the  advantage, 
as  their  numbers  were  every   hour   increasing.     This  day,  the    6th   of 


12  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1782. 

June,  was  as  warm  as  the  day  previous,  and  as  the  battle  began  as  the 
day  advanced  the  heat  and  thirst  of  the  men  grew  greater,  so  that  my 
father  was  obliged  to  resume  his  old  perilous  post  of  carrying  water 
again  in  the  canteens,  encouraging  his  comrades,  at  the  same  time,  to 
fight  on  bravely,  and  he  would  act  his  part  by  furnishing  them  with  such 
water  as  he  could  find. 

After  he  had  performed  this  duty  for  several  hours,  being  overcome 
with  heat  and  fatigue,  and  having  slept  none  the  night  before,  he  sat 
down  at  the  root  of  a  large  red-oak  tree  on  the  opposite  side  from  the 
enemy.  Here  he  intended  to  sit  and  rest  himself,  and  so  he  did,  for  he 
had  not  sat  long  till  sleep  overcame  him,  and  he  was  soon  clasped 
tightly  in  the  arms  of  Morpheus,  where  he  lay  sweetly  reposing  until 
aroused  by  a  ball  which  struck  the  tree  some  distance  above  his  head, 
and  shivered  the  bark  off,  which  fell  on  his  head  and  roused  him  from 
his  sweet  slumbers,  and  to  his  work  he  went  again.  On  his  return,  with 
his  canteens  full  of  water,  his  companions  under  arms  were  glad  to  see 
him,  they  having  missed  him  for  almost  two  hours,  supposing  that  a 
ball  from  the  enemy  had  stopped  him  on  the  way.  I  have  heard  him 
several  times  observe  that  he  was  not  the  least  daunted  or  afraid ; 
although  the  bullets  flew  thick,  yet  he  was  preserved  and  left  unhurt. 
He  was  young  and  unmarried,  and  the  decree  of  Divine  Providence  was 
not  yet  filled  ;  he  had  yet  to  marry  and  raise  a  family  for  the  purpose 
allotted  and  the  use  of  society. 

CRAWFORD'S   DEFEAT   AND    RETREAT. 

But  the  Indians  were  so  numerously  reinforced  this  day,  and  the 
ammunition  of  our  men  was  failing  so  fast,  that  the  Commander,  Colonel 
Crawford,  thought  it  would  be  most  advisable  and  prudent  to  retreat 
with  such  of  the  wounded  as  were  able  to  go.  This  was  a  trying  scene, 
for  many  were  so  wounded  as  not  to  be  able  to  retreat.  They  had  all 
gone  out  chiefly  well-mounted,  but  some  of  their  horses  had  broken 
loose ;  some  had  gotten  swamped  or  mired  and  others  had  been  killed 
by  the  enemy's  fire. 

When  night  came  on  fires  were  kindled  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
Indians  believe  that  our  men  were  determined  to  keep  the  ground  on 
which  they  had  fought  so  bravely  the  preceding  days  and  nights.     But 


1782.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  13 

all  was  bustle  and  stir,  every  one  exerting  himself  in  the  best  manner  he 
could  preparatory  to  their  leaving  the  plains  which  had  now  become  a 
place  of  horror  and  dread  to  almost  the  stoutest  heart.  The  night  was 
dark  and  the  Indian  yell  was  continually  falling  on  the  ear,  together 
with  the  cries  and  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying;  all  conspired  to 
render  the  scene  distressing  and  appalling. 

As  soon  as  marching  orders  were  given,  in  many  instances  it  was 
every  man  for  himself;  but  still  the  main  body  or  the  greater  number  of 
the  troops  fell  into  line  under  the  command  of  Crawford  and  Williamson. 

They  had,  however,  retreated  only  a  short  distance  when  Colonel 
Crawford,  apprehensive  for  the  safety  of  his  son  John,  stopped  the  troops 
and  made  inquiry  and  search  all  along  the  line  for  him,  and  finding  that 
he  was  not  in  the  line  on  the  retreat,  Crawford  made  an  earnest  request 
for  a  number  of  volunteers  to  turn  out  of  the  line  and  go  back  with  him 
to  make  search  for  his  son  among  the  wounded,  dying  or  dead. 
Amongst  those  that  turned  out  to  accompany  Colonel  Crawford  in 
making  this  search  was  my  father  and  a  Mr.  Harbaugh,  a  saddler  to  trade 
from  Beesontown,  now  Uniontown  ;  Doctor  Knight  and  John  Slover, 
one  of  the  pilots,  and  others,  to  the  number  of  twenty,  leaving  Colonel 
Williamson  to  conduct  the  retreat,  while  Crawford,  with  his  small  band 
.  of  volunteers,  returned  to  the  battle  ground  and  made  diligent  search 
for  his  son,  but  to  no  purpose.  He  was,  in  reality,  safe  enough  in  the 
line  on  the  retreat,  but  of  this  his  father  knew  nothing,  but  spent  several 
hours  making  fruitless  search  for  the  living  among  the  dead. 

After  the  fruitless  search  was  over,  Crawford  held  a  consultation  with 
his  little  band,  whether  they  should  take  the  trail  and  endeavor  to  over- 
take the  main  body  of  the  troops,  or  take  a  nearer  route  home  by  way 
of  Fort  Mcintosh,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  Big  Beaver. 

The  latter  was  decided  upon  by  Crawford  and  most  of  the  men  now 
with  him;  but  my  father  and  Harbaugh  would  not  consent  to  go  this 
near  way  home  with  so  small  a  company,  although  it  was  urged  by 
Crawford  and  others  that  the  Beaver  route  home  would  be  much  more 
safe  than  the  other,  for  the  reason  that  as  soon  as  the  Indians  would  find 
that  a  retreat  was  made,  they  would  follow  the  main  body  of  the  troops, 
and  harass  them  on  their  retreat,  which  would  make  it  the  safer  passage 
by  Fort  Mcintosh. 


li  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1782. 

But  this  reasoning  had  no  effect  on  the  minds  of  my  father  and 
Harbaugh,  and  they  immediately  turned  their  horses  and  took  the  trail 
made  by  the  main  body.  This  trail  they  pursued  the  remainder  of  the 
night  with  all  the  speed  they  were  able  to  make,  not  knowing  how  soon 
they  might  be  overtaken  or  met  by  the  Indians. 

Crawford  and  those  men  with  him  had  made  some  progress  during 
the  night,  but  the  next  day,  the  7th  of  June,  he  and  his  men  were 
surrounded  by  the  Indians  and  made  prisoners,  and  two  of  them  only. 
Knight  and  Slover,  made  their  escape,  while  Crawford  himself  was 
burned  at  the  stake,  suffering  the  most  heart-rending  agonies. 

SAD   FATE    OF   DANIEL   HARBAUGH. 

My  father  and  Harbaugh  traveled  on  steadily  all  through  that  dreary 
night  without  molestation,  but  about  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
June  7th,  my  father  being  foremost  on  the  trail,  spied  an  Indian  step 
behind  a  tree,  and  at  that  moment  he  dismounted  and  stepped  behind  a 
tree  and  was  safe,  and  at  the  same  time  called  out  to  Harbaugh  to  tree. 
Poor  Harbaugh,  ill-fated  man,  did  dismount,  but  as  he  had  not  seen  the 
Indian,  he  stood  on  the  side  of  the  tree  next  to  the  Indian,  gazing 
around  to  see  if  he  could  see  the  Indian.  But  his  chance  for  gazing 
around  was  short,  for  Harbaugh  had  only  just  dismounted,  when  my. 
father  peeped  around  the  tree  to  see  if  he  could  get  a  shot  at  the 
Indian  ;  but  instead  of  seeing  the  Indian,  he  saw  the  flash  of  the  Indian's 
gun  and  heard  the  report  follow  the  flash,  and  likewise  heard  the  solemn 
words  audibly  pronounced  in  his  ears  from  the  mouth  of  poor  Har- 
baugh :  "  God  have  mercy  on  me ;  I  am  a  dead  man,"  and  gradually 
sank  down  in  a  sitting  position  at  the  foot  of  the  tree.  The  Indian  at 
once  took  to  flight,  as  he  had  discharged  his  gun,  and  my  father,  seeing 
that  Harbaugh  was  dead,  did  not  lose  a  moment,  but  pulled  the  saddle 
and  bridle  from  Harbaugh's  horse  and  let  him  go,  and  then  puUed'the 
pack-saddle  from  his  own  horse,  and  put  on  Harbaugh's  in  its  place. 
Having  mounted,  he  rode  perhaps  half  a  mile,  meditating  upon  the 
wonderful  providence  whereby  Harbaugh  was  taken  and  he  was  left, 
when  he  suddenly  bethought  him  of  his  provision  and  blanket,  which 
was  in  a  blanket  and  tied  fast  to  his  pack-saddle. 

He   did   not   dare   run   the   risk   of  doing  without  provision,  and   he 


1782.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  15 

quickly  rode  back  to  the  spot  where  Harbaugh  was  shot,  and  found  that 
in  the  short  time  he  had  been  gone  the  Indian  had  returned  and  scalped 
Harbaugh,  but  was  now  nowhere  to  be  seen,  but  he  had  left  the  pack- 
saddle  with  the  wallet  tied  to  it.  This  my  father  loosed  with  the 
provisions  in  it,  and  again  took  to  the  trail. 

My  father  said  he  was  frequently  asked  why  he  rode  a  pack-saddle, 
and  he  said  that  he  had  left  his  own  good  saddle  at  home,  as  it  had 
fallen  to  him  when  his  company  set  out  on  the  campaign  to  purchase 
and  take  with  him  200  pounds  of  flour  for  the  use  of  the  company,  and 
he  took  this  pack-saddle  to  carry  the  flour  on,  and  all  that  was  now  left 
for  him  was  an  ash-cake  in  the  wallet.  My  father  said :  "  It  saved  my 
new  riding  saddle,  for  which  I  had  paid,  in  1780,  the  sum  of  $\o, 
continental  money." 

ESCAPE   OF  JOHN   SHERRARD. 

My  father  kept  on  all  day  following  the  trail  to  overtake  the  main 
body  of  the  troops,  overwhelmed  with  the  thought  of  the  suddenness  of 
the  loss  of  his  friend  and  comrade,  Harbaugh.  This  was  the  7th  day 
of  June,  1782,  a  day  long  to  be  remembered  by  my  father,  and  from 
this  time  onward  he  resolved  that  this  day,  as  long  as  he  lived,  he 
would  set  apart  and  dedicate  to  God,  his  Maker  and  Preserver,  as  a  day 
of  fasting,  thanksgiving  and  prayer;  and  this  he  strictly  observed  as  long 
as  he  lived  year  by  year,  for  the  space  of  twenty-seven  successive  years. 

On  this  SEVENTH  day  of  June  he  performed  no  manner  of  work,  and 
took  no  manner  of  food  till  after  the  sun  went  down. 

All  through  this  day,  as  he  followed  the  trail,  he  saw  no  Indians,  and 
about  sunset  he  came  up  with  the  troops. 

Coming  round  the  turn  of  a  hill,  the  first  intimation  he  had  of  his 
approach  to  the  retreating  army  was  the  cheering  sound  of  music,  as  he 
heard  them  playing  a  French  March,  which  he  had  learned  during  his 
service  as  volunteer  in  the  Revolution,  1775-76.  This  music  so  revived 
his  spirits  and  cheered  his  heart  that  he  joined  in  the  music,  whistling 
the  tune  as  he  rode  among  his  comrades,  who  hailed  him  with  a  hearty 
cheer,  rejoicing  at  his  escape,  particularly  on  hearing  of  the  death  of 
Harbaugh,  a  very  worthy  man  and  much  esteemed  by  his  comrades  in 
arms,  as  well  as  by  all  who  knew  him  at  home. 


16  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1782. 

It  was  now  twenty-four  hours  since  the  retreat  had  begun,  and  as  the 
night  set  in  the  retreating  troops  were  sorely  harassed  by  the  Indians  in 
the  rear  of  the  army  all  night,  until  fair  daylight,  when  they  betook 
themselves  back  again  to  the  Sandusky  Plains  to  sport  with  and  torment 
the  poor  prisoners  they  had  taken  two  days  before. 

It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  Colonel  Williamson  was  able 
to  maintain  any  kind  of  order  and  discipline  of  the  troops  during  the 
retreat  that  night,  but  by  obeying  the  orders  of  the  commander  he  was 
able  to  conduct  the  whole  of  his  retreating  army,  for  the  most  part,  safe 
to  the  Ohio  River.  There  were  some  few  who  voluntarily  left  the  line 
of  retreat  and  rambled  where  they  pleased,  until  they  were  picked  off 
by  the  Indians  or  made  prisoners  and  put  to  the  most  cruel  torture  that 
savage  barbarity  could  invent. 

After  Williamson  got  his  men  safe  over  the  Ohio  River  and  back  into 
the  settlements  of  Pennsylvania,  he  discharged  the  troops,  as  many  of 
them  belonged  to  Washington  County.  The  rest  of  the  army,  which 
belonged  to  Fayette  County,  kept  together  as  far  as  necessary,  until 
they  had  occasion  to  turn  to  their  respective  homes. 

As  to  my  father,  he  stopped  with  his  cousin,  Hugh  Shearer  (or 
Sherrard),  who  resided  at  that  time  on  the  waters  of  Chartiers  Creek,  in 
Washington  County.  Here  he  rested  only  the  remainder  of  the  day  and 
one  night,  and  next  day  returned  home  to  the  residence  of  George  Paull, 
the  father  of  James  Paull,  who  was  one  of  father's  comrades  in  this 
campaign.  As  soon  as  father  had  arrived  home  there  was  great 
solicitude  and  much  inquiry  made  for  James  Paull,  who  had  not  arrived, 
and  of  whom  no  tidings  had  been  heard.  My  father  could  give  no 
satisfactory  account  of  him  since  the  night  when  the  retreat  had  been 
ordered.  Paull  had  fallen  asleep,  when  my  father  had  found  him,  and 
gave  him  a  shake  or  two,  calling  to  him  at  the  same  time  and  using 
these  words:  "  Jamey,  Jamey,  up  and  let  us  be  off;  the  men's  away." 
Paull  told  me  himself  afterwards  that,  with  these  words  of  my  father,  he 
immediately  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  stepped  to  the  sapling  where  his 
horse  had  been  tied,  but  to  his  disappointment  he  found  his  horse  had 
slipped  his  bridle,  and  by  the  time  he  had  recovered  his  horse  he  was  away 
behind  the  main  body  of  retreating  troops,  and  he  had  to  make  his  own 
way,  with  many  hairbreadth  escapes,  through  the  wilderness  back  home. 


1782.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  17 

Thus  my  father  was  able  to  give  the  Paull  family  no  account  of  James 
after  the  night  he  had  wakened  him  on  the  battle-ground,  but  he 
endeavored  to  keep  up  the  hopes  of  his  mother  and  sisters  by  assuring 
them  that  he  would  no  doubt  be  home  in  a  few  days, — that  a  great 
many  of  the  men  had  wandered  off  from  the  main  body  of  troops;  and 
sure  enough  James  Paull  did  arrive  home  three  days  after  my  father,  to 
the  great  joy  of  his  father's  family. 

A  great  many  did  not  return,  for  out  of  a  full  company  to  which  my 
father  and  James  Paull  belonged,  only  nine  returned  to  their  homes,  and 
among  these  nine  were  my  father,  James  Paull,  John  Rodgers,  Daniel 
Cannon,  Alexander  Carson  and  William  Gilgrist. 

This  Daniel  Cannon,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Crawford's  campaign,  was 
a  very  early  settler,  four  miles  from  Connellsville,  near  which  place 
Colonel  Crawford  resided. 

He  was  a  brother  to  John  Cannon,  who  afterwards  laid  out  Cannons- 
burg,  at  which  place,  long  since  the  defeat  of  Colonel  Crawford,  many  a 
student  has  been  educated. 

George  Paull,  the  father  of  Col.  James  Paull,  of  whom  I  have  made 
honorable  mention,  as  being  one  of  the  volunteers  in  this  campaign, 
was  commissioned  by  the  Federal  Government  as  paymaster  of  the  scouts 
and  spies  that  were  constantly  on  the  move  to  assist  in  keeping  off  the 
Indians.  The  fall  of  1777  he  went  to  Pittsburgh  to  draw  money  from  the 
Government  agent  at  Fort  Pitt,  and  while  there  he  took  the  small-pox, 
and  went  home  and  died  of  that  disease,  much  lamented  as  a  useful  citizen, 
and  one  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  neighborhood  in  which  he  lived. 

In  my  young  days  I  was  acquainted  with  six  or  seven  of  the  men 
who  were  out  in  Crawford's  campaign,  as  they  were  volunteers  from 
the  neighborhood  where  I  was  brought  up,  within  four  or  five  miles 
of  Connellsville.  I  have  heard  my  father  converse  freely  on  the  subject 
of  that  campaign ;  and  at  a  much  later  date  I  have  conversed  with 
James  Paull  and  John  Rodgers  on  the  same  subject,  and  I  can  now 
assert  positively  that  I  never  heard  from  either  of  these  three  the  least 
intimation  that  the  expedition  was  for  the  purpose  of  killing  off  the 
remainder  of  the  Christian  Moravian  Indians.  But,  on  the  contrary,  I 
have  frequently  heard  these  men  say  that  the  main  object  of  Crawford 
and   his   men   was   to   chastise   the  Wyandottes,  by  killing  as   many  as 


18  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1782. 

they  could,  and  burn  their  town  and  destroy  their  corn.  This  and  this 
only  was  the  object  of  these  men  in  undertaking  this  campaign,  and  by 
that  means  to  checl<  the  Indians  from  murdering,  scalping  and  plunder- 
ing the  white  inhabitants  on  the  frontier  settlements,  as  had  been  the 
case  for  two  months  before 

Hugh  Sherrard,  my  father's  cousin,  where  he  stopped  on  his  way 
home  from  Crawford's  defeat,  was  among  the  very  earliest  settlers  of 
Washington  County,  Pennsylvania. 

He  was  the  son  of  Hugh  Sherrard,  who  resided  in  Coleraine,  County 
Derry,  Ireland,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Bann  Water.  He  was  an  elder 
brother  to  my  grandfather,  William  Sherrard,  and  retained  a  good  deal 
of  the  Scotch  dialect,  manners  and  customs.  I  have  heard  my  father 
recite  a  visit  which  he  performed  when  a  youth  across  the  Bann  Water 
to  his  Uncle  Hugh's.  On  rising  the  top  of  the  hill  or  mountain,  which 
lies  between  Newton  Limavady  and  the  Bann  Water,  on  which  Coleraine 
is  situated,  the  hill  was  so  high  above  the  water,  and  being  early  in  the 
morning,  he  could  see  the  fog  rising  and  rolling  up  from  the  water 
like  large  clouds, — at  first  a  very  great  way  below,  but  soon  rising  far 
above  the  sky-topped  hills  on  which  he  stood. 

AN    INDIAN    MASSACRE. 

My  father's  cousin,  old  Hugh  Sherrard,  had  settled,  in  1772,  between 
Miller's  Run  and  Catfish,  which  is  now  called  Washington.  He  had  a 
son,  a  full  second  cousin  of  mine,  who  had  married  in  the  spring  of  1773. 
Being  desirous  of  setting  up  for  himself,  he  had  purchased  the  right  to 
a  tract  of  good  land  a  short  distance  east  of  where  the  Cross  Roads, 
(now  Florence),  meeting-house  at  the  present  time  stands,  near  the 
stream  called  Raccoon. 

He  left  his  wife  at  his  father's,  and  went  over  to  Raccoon  to  make 
improvements  preparatory  to  moving  his  young  wife  shortly  to  her 
new  home.  But  while  at  work  in  the  woods  he  was  shot  down  and 
scalped  by  an  Indian,  and  as  soon  as  word  of  this  sad  catastrophe  was 
brought  to  his  father,  the  neighbors  turned  out  to  the  number  of  twenty 
men.  Being  well  armed,  they  went  to  the  place  where  young  Sherrard 
lay  shot  and  scalped,  and  twelve  of  their  number  volunteered  to  pursue 
the   Indians.     They  followed  their  trail  to  the  Ohio   River,   but    they 


1782.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  19 

found  that  the  Indians  had  recrossed  the  river  in  their  bark  canoes,  and 
the  men  pursued  them  no  farther,  but  returned  home.  The  other  eight 
men  who  were  left  with  young  Sherrard  made  a  hand-barrow  and 
carried  him  home  to  his  father's  house.  He  was  buried  at  the  Presby- 
terian burying-ground  at  Chartiers  Church,  where  the  family  were 
members,  and  where  the  Rev.  John  McMillan  then  preached,  leaving 
an  afflicted  family  and  young  wife  to  mourn  his  death. 

MARVELOUS   ESCAPE  OF   COL.  JAMES   PAULL. 

I  will  now  attempt  to  give  some  account  of  why  young  Paull  did  not 
return  with  the  main  body  of  the  troops  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Williamson,  as  I  received  it  from  the  lips  of  Colonel  James  Paull  him- 
self the  January  of  1826.  Paull  said  that  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  of 
June,  after  Colonel  Crawford  had  given  orders  for  those  who  had  flour 
to  bake  it,  and  prepare  to  retreat  in  as  silent  a  manner  as  possible  at 
nine  o'clock  at  night,  leaving  their  fires  burning  as  bright  as  if  all  were 
retiring  to  rest ;  he  stated  that  on  coming  out  to  Upper  Sandusky,  as 
they  burnt  the  Moravian  town  on  the  Muskingum,  some  one  picked  up 
a  spade,  and  thinking  it  might  be  useful  to  bake  bread  on,  it  was  carried 
on  to  camp  at  Sandusky.  It  was  made  use  of  to  bake  bread  on  the 
evening  just  before  the  retreat,  and  had  been  thrown  aside  hot  from  the 
fire,  and  young  Paull,  not  knowing  it  was  hot,  set  his  foot  on  it,  and  his 
moccasin  being  worn  through  at  the  bottom,  and  the  sole  of  his  foot 
thick,  he  did  not  feel  the  heat  till  his  foot  was  badly  burned,  which  gave 
him  great  pain,  till  some  one  who  had  some  whiskey  in  reserve  applied 
some  of  it  to  the  burn,  and  it  eased  the  pain  so  that  he  soon  fell  asleep 
near  the  camp-fire.  He  awoke  on  hearing  my  father's  voice  :  "  Jamey, 
Jamey!  up,  and  let  us  be  off;  the  men's  away."  And  that  was  the  last 
he  saw  of  my  father  till  he  saw  him  again  at  home.  Paull  found  his 
horse  had  slipped  the  bridle;  but  on  groping  round,  he  found  him 
standing  at  the  tail  of  two  other  horses  hitched  near  by.  He  bridled  his 
horse  and  mounted,  and  at  the  same  time  others  mounted ;  but  it  was 
now  too  dark  to  take  the  trail  of  the  main  army,  and  there  being  nine 
now  in  his  company — eight  others  with  himself — they  concluded  to  take 
the  nearest  route  east  for  home,  and  they  struck  out,  guided  by  the  stars. 

But,  to   their   misfortune,  they  had   not   gone  far  on  the  homeward 


20  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1782. 

direction  till  they  found  they  had  ridden  into  a  deep  swamp,  where  they 
got  their  horses  fast  in  the  mud,  so  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  get 
them  extricated. 

They  had  to  leave  their  horses  there,  and  get  out  of  the  swamp  as 
best  they  could  by  stepping  from  tussock  to  tussock  till  they  came  out 
on  good  ground  ;  but  one  poor  fearful  comrade,  in  his  hurry  to  get  on, 
would  slip  down  between  the  tussocks,  and  would  bawl  out  lustily,  for 
God's  sake  not  to  leave  him;  and  so  loud  and  pitiful  was  his  cry  that  if 
the  Indians  had  been  near,  they  all  might  have  been  made  prisoners. 
However,  they  met  with  no  other  impediment  in  their  course  that  night, 
but  kept  steadily  on  through  the  whole  night  and  the  next  day  till  noon 
without  tasting  food,  so  anxious  were  they  to  make  for  home  and  get 
clear  of  the  Indians  behind. 

About  noon  they  came  to  a  place  of  high  weeds,  where  they  knew 
they  would  be  screened  from  the  view  of  any  Indians  that  might  be 
prowling  about;  and  here  they  broke  down  the  weeds  and  spread  down 
a  blanket,  and  each  took  his  provision,  such  as  he  had,  and  put  it  down 
on  the  blanket,  all  seated  around.  But  the  fearful  comrade  that  made 
such  a  noise  in  the  swamp  would  often  pop  up  and  peep  over  the 
weeds  on  the  lookout  for  Indians. 

At  length  he  said  in  a  low  voice:  "Hide,  boys;  yonder  comes 
Indians."  Paull  said  each  man  shot  further  into  the  weeds  and  lay 
down;  but,  for  his  part,  he  saw  close  by  a  thick  clump  of  alder  bushes, 
and  was  completely  concealed  by  the  thick  foliage.  And  right  opposite 
to  him,  a  few  yards'  distance,  the  Indians,  to  the  number  of  twenty-five, 
all  mounted  on  Indian  ponies,  stopped,  and  looked  about,  and  listened, 
as  if  they  had  heard  our  men  hiding;  but  all  was  now  quiet,  and  they 
hearing  no  more  noise,  the  foremost  of  them  gave  a  whistle,  and  kicked 
his  horse  in  the  sides  and  started,  and  they  all  kicked  their  horses  as 
did  their  leader,  and  kept  on  the  trail  toward  Sandusky. 

Paull  said  he  had  a  fine  chance  to  put  a  bullet  into  one  of  these  red- 
skins, if  he  had  dared;  but  that  was  not  to  be  thought  of  As  soon  as 
the  Indians  were  gone,  the  men  gathered  around  the  blanket  again,  but 
not  to  eat;  for  each  man  now  thought  he  had  enough,  and  took  up  his 
provision  and  marched  on.  The  evening  of  the  second  day,  as  they 
crossed  an  open  piece  of  ground,  they  saw,  at  a  considerable  distance. 


1782.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  21 

out  of  gun-shot,  a  solitary  Indian,  who  ran  off"  and  was  soon  out  of 
sight.  However,  these  nine  men  lay  down  fatigued,  and  slept  soundly; 
but  that  solitary  Indian  that  night  conveyed  word  of  what  he  had  seen 
to  other  Indians,  who  came  on  and  lay  in  ambush  the  next  day.  And 
as  these  men  were  marching  on,  suspecting  no  harm,  the  Indians  fired 
on  them,  and  four  out  of  the  nine  fell.  The  Indians  rose  up,  and  one  of 
them  that  spoke  pretty  good  English  called  to  the  remaining  five  to 
surrender,  and  not  a  man  of  them  should  be  hurt. 

But  Paull  said,  for  his  part,  he  could  put  no  confidence  in  an  Indian, 
and  immediately  broke  and  ran  for  his  life.  After  running  some  dis- 
tance, he  looked  back  and  saw  his  four  comrades  tomahawked  at  the 
tree  that  each  had  taken,  and  that  moment  three  of  the  Indians  took 
after  Paull  to  catch  him;  but  that  made  him  put  forth  all  his  energy  and 
run  for  dear  life.  After  a  while  he  ventured  to  look  over  his  shoulder, 
and  found  that  he  had  actually  gained  on  the  Indians,  and  he  also  dis- 
covered that  one  of  the  three  pursuers  had  dropped  off",  and  had 
returned  back. 

Soon  after  a  second  one  fell  back  also,  and  the  third  one,  seeing  that 
Paull  was  still  gaining,  fell  back,  and  Paull  was  left  to  run  alone.  Per- 
ceiving that  his  last  enemy  had  left  off"  the  pursuit,  Paull,  in  his  great  joy 
and  relief,  slackened  his  pace,  but  still  at  a  smart  walk  pursued  his  way. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  Paull  had  his  foot  badly  burned;  this 
burn  was  a  great  injury  to  him  in  his  journey,  since  he  had  lost  his 
horse  in  the  swamp,  and  what  made  his  case  worse,  the  sole  was  worn 
out  of  his  moccasin.  But  having  found  the  half  of  an  Indian  blanket, 
which  he  had  picked  up  on  the  battle-field,  and  had  taken  care  of,  he 
had  kept  his  foot  bandaged  with  a  piece  of  this  blanket,  and  as  that 
would  wear  off",  he  would  bind  on  another  piece.  That  evening,  after 
the  loss  of  his  comrades,  and  the  race  the  three  Indians  gave  him,  he 
took  it  more  easy,  and  as  the  evening  approached,  feeling  less  appre- 
hensive of  pursuit,  and  knowing  that  he  must  be  exhausted  for  the  want 
of  sleep  and  food  and  the  amount  of  travel,  he  began  to  look  out  for  a 
suitable  place  for  rest  and  sleep  for  the  night.  At  length  he  came  to  a 
large  hollow  log,  into  which  he  crept,  taking  his  gun  in  with  him,  and 
here  he  rested  well  all  night. 

Next    morning  he   early   left    his   resting-place,   and   again   took   his 


22  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1782. 

course  for  home ;  but  at  first  he  could  scarcely  walk  a  step,  his  foot  was 
so  sore  and  painful;  and  what  was  still  worse,  his  scanty  provision  was 
now  gone,  and  the  only  subsistence  he  had  till  after  he  crossed  the  Ohio 
River  was  one  young  blackbird  which  he  caught  and  ate  raw,  and  he 
had  occasionally  a  supply  of  service  berries,  which  in  some  localities  on 
his  route  were  plenty  and  ripe  at  this  season  of  the  year, — June  9,  1782. 
He  now  traveled  on  at  his  own  chosen  gait,  just  as  he  could,  not  caring 
much  about  Indians,  nor  did  he  see  any  for  long  after  his  return  home. 
In  steering  his  course  homeward,  he  passed  near  the  place  where  Mount 
Vernon  now  stands,  in  Knox  County,  Ohio,  as  he  supposed  when  he 
talked  with  me  in  January,  1826;  there  he  fell  in  on  the  waters  of  Owl 
Creek,  and  passed  down  the  same  until  near  its  junction  with  Mohegan 
Creek,  where  he  fell  in  with  an  old  Indian  trail.  Here  he  discovered 
fresh  signs  of  Indians  having  passed  on  towards  or  in  the  direction  of 
Sandusky,  which  made  him  alter  his  course  and  take  over  the  hills  the 
nearest  way  to  the  Tuscarawas  River.  After  he  had  left  the  Indian  trail 
a  little,  he  sat  down  to  rest  a  little,  being  weary  and  faint  from  a  severe 
day's  travel,  with  a  sore  burnt  foot  and  but  little  food.  While  resting 
here,  he  saw  at  no  great  distance  a  shelving  rock  with  abundance  of 
leaves  under  it. 

This  place  he  thought  would  be  a  good  place  to  rest  and  sleep 
through  the  night,  as  dusk  was  already  coming  on;  but  he  thought  he 
was  too  near  the  Indian  trail  to  lodge  there,  and  he  therefore  resolved 
to  travel  all  that  night  and  the  ne.xt  day,  and  that  would  perhaps  put 
him  out  of  the  reach  of  the  Indians. 

After  resting  till  dark,  he  started,  but  found  he  was  too  much 
exhausted  from  loss  of  sleep  and  food,  and  could  gain  no  headway,  for 
his  head  became  dizzy,  causing  him  to  reel  and  stagger;  and  what  little 
he  did  gain  was  with  great  exertion  and  much  difficulty.  Finding  he 
could  not  travel,  he  resolved  to  spend  the  night  under  that  shelving 
rock,  which  he  did,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  June  he  arose 
much  refreshed,  and  pursued  his  way,  crossing  the  Tuscarawas  River; 
and  in  two  days  more  he  found  himself  at  the  Ohio  River,  a  little  above 
where  Wheeling  now  stands.  As  the  river  was  too  deep  to  cross,  he 
kept  up  the  river  till  he  came  a  short  distance  above  the  mouth  of  Rush 
Run;  and  there,  finding  a  pile  of  driftwood,  he  made  a  raft,  and  soon 


1782.]  FA  MIL  \ '  HIS  TOR  1 '.  23 

found  himself  safe  on  the  Virginia  shore.  Up  over  the  river  bank  he 
saw  a  number  of  horses  feeding  on  the  river  bottom,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  secure  one  of  them,  as  his  foot  was  still  painful.  He  made 
a  halter  of  white  walnut  bark,  and  after  many  trials  he  succeeded  in 
catching  a  poor  raw-boned  old  mare,  and  mounted  on  this  steed,  he 
took  the  trail  that  lay  up  the  river  hill.  Following  this  path,  he  at 
length  came  to  an  improvement  where  he  heard  a  cock  crow,  and  that 
for  the  first  time  since  he  had  left  the  Ohio  River  on  the  outward-bound 
campaign ;  but  here  he  found  no  inhabitants. 

Still  keeping  the  path,  it  led  him  on  past  several  other  improvements, 
where  the  chickens  were  crowing,  but  no  owners  were  to  be  seen,  until 
the  path  finally  led  him  to  a  fort  on  the  bank  of  Virginia  Short  Creek. 
To  this  fort  all  the  people  of  the  surrounding  neighborhood  had  fled  on 
the  word  being  brought  in  by  stragglers  from  Upper  Sandusky  of  Craw- 
ford's defeat,  and  this  news  produced  a  general  panic  as  far  as  the  word 
of  the  defeat  had  reached.  On  entering  the  fort,  to  his  surprise  Paull 
found  several  of  his  companions  in  arms  from  the  battle-field  of  the  San- 
dusky Plains,  and  they  had  reached  the  fort  a  day  or  two  ahead  of  him. 
Here  he  stayed  a  day  and  a  night,  and  rested  himself,  and  doctored  his 
burnt  foot,  which  was  painfully  sore  and  much  swollen.  Here  he  also 
procured  a  horse,  upon  which  he  rode  to  the  house  of  a  relative,  who 
resided  near  Catfish  (now  Washington). 

With  this  relative  Paull  remained  for  several  days,  by  which  he  was 
much  refreshed,  after  several  days  of  almost  starvation.  At  this  rest- 
ing-place he  obtained  a  horse,  upon  which  he  rode  home  to  his  mother 
and  sisters,  who  received  him  joyfully  as  one  alive  from  the  dead. 

A  day  or  two  after  my  father's  return  from  Crawford's  campaign,  he 
went  to  Uniontown  to  break  the  sad  news  of  Harbaugh's  death  to  his 
widow,  and  at  the  same  time  returned  the  saddle. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  narrative  how  close  the  chance  of  life  was  in 
the  case  of  James  Paull,  as  well  as  that  of  my  father  on  the  7th  of  June, 
as  Paull  was  on  the  8th  of  June,  and  that,  too,  by  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence, who  had  no  doubt  work  for  both  to  do.  James  Paull  became 
the  grandfather  of  two  Presbyterian  ministers, — the  Rev.  Alfred  Paull, 
of  Wheeling,  and  the  Rev.  George  Paull,  a  Presbyterian  missionary  in 
Western  Africa,  who  died  there  in  1865. 


24  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1784. 

(The  Paulls  and  Sherrards  have  been  friends  through  three  or  four 
generations,  and  for  more  than  a  century. 

Many  a  time  have  I  visited  at  the  old  Paull  homestead  in  Fayette 
County,  Pa.,  about  three  miles  from  Connellsville,  and  two  miles  from 
Uncle  David  A.  C.  Sherrard's. 

Joseph  Paull,  son  of  this  Colonel  James  Paull,  and  grandson  of  George 
Paull,  where  my  grandfather  found  a  home  when  he  first  came  to  this 
country,  was  a  contemporary  of  my  father,  Robert,  and  his  brother, 
David ;  and  it  was  at  the  house  of  Joseph  that  I  visited.  He  was  a 
most  devoted  and  godly  man,  and  for  many  years  until  his  death  he  was 
an  elder  in  the  Connellsville  Church.  His  wife  was  a  Miss  Rodgers, 
of  Brownsville,  and  they  had  four  children, — George,  the  missionary; 
Elizabeth,  who  married  the  Rev.  N.  H.  G.  Fife,  and  is  now  (August  6, 
1 888)  with  her  husband,  who  is  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Sterling,  111.;  James,  who  was  with  me  in  college,  and  who  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  farm  and  business  at  home,  and  married,  and  has  for  a 
number  of  years  been  an  elder  in  his  father's  place  in  the  Connellsville 
Church;  and  Joseph,  who  is  younger  than  I,  but  who  was  also  with  me 
in  college,  and  is  now  a  lawyer  in  Wheeling  and  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court.— T.  J.  S.) 

COURTSHIP   OF  JOHN   SHERRARD. 

After  this  my  father,  for  the  space  of  two  years,  followed  his  usual 
occupation,  without  anything  worthy  of  notice  taking  place,  only  that 
during  this  time  he  was  busily  engaged  at  times  soliciting  the  hand  of 
Mary  Cathcart  in  marriage,  which  he  at  length  obtained,  and  they  were 
married   May  5,  1784. 

At  the  time  of  their  marriage  John  Sherrard  was  in  the  thirty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  and  Mary  Cathcart  was  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  her 
age.  She  was  born  three  miles  from  Enniskillen,  capital  of  County 
Fermanagh,  Ireland,  September  28,  1751,  of  respectable  and  wealthy 
parents.  Her  father's  name  was  Alexander  Cathcart,  and  her  mother 
was  the  amiable  and  well-accomplished  Ann  Gamble,  of  Graan  Hill, 
daughter  of  David  Gamble. 

Near  this  town  the  Cathcarts  and  Gambles  have  resided  in  succeed- 
ing generations,  ever  since  the  reign  of  King  James  the  First,  in  whose 
reign  they  emigrated  from  Scotland.     At   the  time  of  their  migration 


1784.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  25 

from  Scotland  all  the  Cathcarts  and  Gambles  that  came  over  professed 
to  belong  to  the  Church  of  Scotland.  But  some  considerable  time  af- 
terwards, when  King  William  came  over  from  England  and  fought  with 
King  James  II.  the  memorable  Battle  of  the  Boyne  in  the  year  1690,  the 
Cathcarts  flocked  to  the  standard  of  King  William  in  such  numbers  that 
one  whole  company  was  formed  of  men  altogether  of  the  name  of  Cath- 
cart.  These  men  fought  with  such  valor  and  bravery  that  their  captain 
was  promoted,  and  his  descendants  in  process  of  time  gained  the  title  of 
Lord  Cathcart,  which  title  they  retain  to  the  present  day. 

Alexander  Cathcart  had  an  uncle,  Andrew  Cathcart,  who  fought  in 
the  Battle  of  the  Boyne  on  the  side  of  King  William,  at  the  age  of 
ELEVEN  years ;  and  during  the  battle  this  boy,  Andrew,  fired  eleven 
rounds  of  cartridge  from  his  musket,  which  he  leaned  on  a  rest  fixed 
for  the  purpose  by  placing  a  small  wooden  fork  in  the  ground. 

Land  once  owned  by  the  Catholic  nobility  in  the  following  counties 
in  the  north  and  west  of  Ireland  was  confiscated,  to  wit:  The  Counties 
of  Antrim,  Derry,  Donegal,  Tyrone,  Down  and  Fermanagh.  The  land 
in  these  counties  was  given  by  King  James  the  First  of  England  and 
Sixth  of  Scotland  to  his  Lords  of  Scotland ;  and  the  confiscated  land  of 
all  the  other  counties  in  the  South  and  East  of  Ireland  was  given  to  the 
Lords  of  England. 

These  Lords  both  of  England  and  Scotland  farmed  it  out  to  tenants 
by  way  of  life-leases.  A  lease  during  the  lessee's  own  life  was  a  com- 
mon mode  of  giving  and  continuing  leases  from  father  to  son.  1 
remember  to  have  heard  both  my  mother,  Mary  Cathcart  Sherrard,  and 
my  uncle,  her  brother,  David  Cathcart,  mention  that  their  great-grand- 
father Cathcart,  after  coming  from  the  highlands  of  Scotland  with  his 
noble  "clan  of  highlanders,"  stopped  on  land  three  miles  from  Ennis- 
killen,  and  he — the  great-grandfather — took  a  common  lease  during  his 
own  lifetime,  at  a  rent  of  nine  pounds  a  year  during  the  said  life- 
lease. 

They  further  stated  that  the  said  great-grandfather  had  loaned  his 
landlord  in  a  pinch  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds,  hard  money — gold 
guineas — formerly  a  gold  coin  of  Great  Britain  of  the  value  of  twenty- 
one  shillings  sterling — equal  to  ;g4.66;,^,  American  money. 

After  this  landlord  had  had  the  use  of  the  said  thirty  pounds  for  the 


26  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1784. 

space  of  nearly  four  years,  it  was  thought  by  their  great-grandmother 
that  it  was  time  it  was  paid,  and  she  urged  her  husband  to  dun  the 
landlord  to  pay  back  the  money.  But  the  poor  landlord,  although  rich 
in  land,  had  not  the  means  at  hand  to  pay  up;  but  on  being  repeatedly 
urged,  he  finally  made  a  grand  offer  to  my  great-great-grandfather,  and 
that  was,  if  he  would  give  the  landlord  up  his  note,  he,  the  landlord, 
would,  in  consideration  of  the  thirty  pounds,  give  him  a  good  and  suf- 
ficient lease  at  nine  pounds  a  year  forever,  while  wood  grew  and  water 
run.  But  our  ancestor  had  no  notion  of  taking  the  landlord  at  his  gen- 
erous offer,  and,  like  many  others,  could  not  see  what  was  to  his  own 
self-interest,  and  had  no  idea  that  rents  on  good  land  would  ever  rise. 
His  wife  persuaded  him  not  to  give  away  the  money,  for  it  would  be 
good  when  it  would  come;  but  it  did  not  come,  for  money  was  scarce; 
and  for  want  of  money  in  the  hands  of  the  landlord,  our  ancestor  was 
induced  by  the  kindness  and  willingness  of  the  landlord  to  lift  the 
amount  of  the  note,  a  little  now  and  a  little  then — sometimes  in  salt, 
and  sometimes  in  leather — and  finally  the  whole  amount  of  the  note  was 
lifted,  and  our  ancestor  and  his  family  did  not  know  themselves  one 
whit  the  better  of  the  amount  of  the  thirty-pound  note;  and  they  had 
no  free-hold  lease,  and  in  after-times  this  short-sightedness  became  a 
sore  trouble  to  the  descendants  of  this  penurious  old  great-grand- 
father. 

For  after  his  death  his  son,  my  mother's  grandfather,  had  to  renew 
the  lease  for  his  own  lifetime,  and  the  yearly  rent  was  raised  on  him  to 
eighteen  pounds, — ^just  double  what  it  had  been  the  generation  before. 
But  that  was  not  all, — at  the  death  of  this  grandfather  of  my  mother, 
her  own  father,  Alexander  Cathcart,  came  into  possession  of  his  father's 
lease,  and  now,  on  his  renewing  it  for  his  life,  the  rent  was  again  raised 
to  the  round  sum  of  sixty  pounds  a  year. 

After  grandfather,  Alexander  Cathcart,  had  secured  his  farm  by  a 
common  life-lease — not  a  freehold  lease,  while  wood  grew  and  water 
run — his  next  object  was  to  stock  it  with  a  sufficient  number  of  horses, 
cows,  etc. — and  his  next  and  most  important  object  of  all  was  to  search 
out  a  suitable  person,  with  suitable  qualifications  as  a  helpmeet  to  be  a 
companion  and  take  charge  of  his  household.  He  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  there  was  no  one  so  well  suited  in   his  view  as  Ann  Gamble. 


1784.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  27 

She  was  a  hearty,  healthy  lass  of  twenty-one  summers,  and  was  sister 
to  several  wealthy  and  well-to-do  farmers,  by  name  Baptist,  William, 
David  and  Andrew  Gamble, — the  latter,  on  different  occasions,  made 
seven  successful  trading  trips  from  Ireland  to  the  United  States  and 
back  again. 

This  girl,  Ann  Gamble,  that  my  grandfather  chose  to  be  his  wife,  was 
brought  up,  as  were  her  four  brothers,  as  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  And  as  she  was  in  full  membership  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  she,  in  entering  into  the  marriage  contract  with  Alexander 
Cathcart,  was  not  willing  to  give  up  her  connection  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  join,  with  her  husband,  the  Episcopal  Church,  to  which 
he  belonged.  The  matter  was  finally  settled  between  them  that  if  they 
should  have  any  children,  it  was  to  be  understood  that  the  boys  should 
go  with  their  father  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  girls  should  go 
with  their  mother  to  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Alexander  Cathcart  and  Ann  Gamble  were  married  March  17,  1743, 
and  they  had  seven  children,  three  boys  and  four  girls,  as  follows : 

David,  born  March  17,  1744;  Magdalene;  Jane;  Sarah;  Mary,  my 
mother,  born  September  28,  175  i  ;  Robert,  who  died  in  Ireland  while  a 
young  man.  His  death  was  caused  by  a  fall,  which  he  got  in  wrestling 
with  a  Connaught  man  on  a  hard  barn-floor, — he  was  unmarried  and 
therefore  died  without  issue.  The  seventh  child  was  a  son  named 
Andrew. 

The  father  of  these  children,  Alexander  Cathcart,  in  his  young  days 
was  a  man  of  robust,  sound,  hearty,  hardy  constitution,  and  remained 
such  till  after  his  children  were  born,  and  were  in  part  raised,  when  a 
circumstance  occurred,  which  was  not  only  the  cause  of  impairing  his 
health,  but  was  the  exciting  cause  of  his  death.  He  kept  a  part  of  his 
farm  for  stock,  which  was  common  among  the  wealthy  farmers  of 
Ireland,  the  young  cattle  of  which  he  commonly  drove  up  on  the 
mountain  in  the  summer  months  and  left  them  during  that  season  under 
the  care  of  the  poor  peasants  of  the  mountain,  who  were  all  Catholics. 
These  poor  peasants  generally  took  care  of  the  cattle  for  a  mere  trifle, 
having  the  liberty  of  bleeding  them  at  times  stated ;  this  blood  they 
boiled  and  prepared  for  food,  and  was  a  rich  repast  to  these  people  on 
the  mountain. 


28  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1784. 

He  had  paid  a  visit  to  see  how  these  cattle  were  thriving,  and  on  his 
return  down  the  mountain  a  heavy  gust  of  rain  overtook  him  far  from 
any  house  or  shelter,  and  although  it  was  summer-time  and  the  weather 
warm  and  fine,  yet  the  rain  was  cold,  and  poured  on  him  heavy  and 
fast,  so  that  he  was  soon  wet  through  all  his  clothes,  and  chilled  with 
almost  a  death  chill.  In  this  situation  he  rode  home,  took  his  bed  and 
remained  sick  for  some  days,  and  at  length  recovered,  but  not  finally 
to  enjoy  that  good  health  which  had  been  his  constant  companion  from 
his  youth.  The  cold  brought  on  by  this  wetting  developed  into  asthma, 
and  in  this  situation  he  applied  to  a  great  variety  of  physicians  for 
relief,  but  got  none. 

At  length  the  most  eminent  of  his  physicians  recommended  him  to 
take  a  sea  voyage,  but  this  he  could  not  at  first  agree  to  do  ;  however, 
finding  that  his  health  was  growing  worse,  he  concluded  to  venture  on 
a  sea  voyage. 

This  he  now  could  the  more  readily  do  since  his  eldest  son,  David, 
who  had  married  Susannah  Guthridge,  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Guth- 
ridge,  was  now  gone  to  America  to  seek  his  fortune,  as  many  of  his 
countrymen  had  done  before  him,  and  as  Andrew  Gamble,  his  wife's 
brother — that  is,  Alexander  Cathcart's  wife's  brother — had  gone  thither 
many  years  before.  He  now  concluded  that  he  could  make  a  sea 
voyage  to  America,  and  at  the  same  time  visit  his  son  and  his  brother- 
in-law.  Under  these  conclusions  he  made  arrangements  at  home  for 
his  departure,  by  leaving  his  beloved  wife  for  a  season,  and  his  youngest 
son,  Andrew,  at  this  time  but  a  boy;  his  two  daughters  having  been 
married  for  some  time,  that  is  Jane  and  Sarah — Magdalene  was  married 
before — and  were  well  settled  in  the  world  to  his  satisfaction  ;  he  took 
his  youngest  daughter,  Mary,  with  him  as  a  nurse  to  take  care  of  him 
in  his  weak  state  of  impaired  health,  expecting  only  to  winter  in 
America  and  return  home  to  his  wife  and  family  in  the  spring. 

I  say  under  these  expectations  and  prospects  he  bade  his  wife, 
children  and  friends  farewell,  but  it  was  a  last  adieu  ;  they  never  met 
again  on  this  side  of  the  grave, — the  vessel  weighed  anchor  and  hoisted 
sail,  and  very  soon  they  got  but  a  last  faint  view  of  their  native  isle. 

In  eighty-eight  days  the  vessel  anchored  in  the  Delaware  at  New 
Castle,  where  they  landed,  from  whence  they  soon  found  a   conveyance 


1784.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  29 

to  New  London  Cross  Roads,  near  which  place  his  son,  David  Cathcart, 
and  his  brother-in-law,  Andrew  Gamble,  lived. 

This  New  London  is  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Chester  County,  Pa., 
four  miles  north  of  the  Maryland  line,  and  is  about  eighteen  miles  from 
New  Castle,  Delaware. 

Here  they  were  kindly  received  in  the  month  of  December,  1773, 
after  a  sea  voyage  of  three  months. 

At  the  time  of  their  landing  great  commotions  seemed  to  be  on  foot 
in  the  United  States  in  consequence  of  the  tea  ship  which  then  lay  in  the 
harbor  in  Boston,  and  which  had  been  unladened  of  its  tea  by  a 
company  of  men  under  the  disguise  of  Mohawk  Indians,  and  they  had 
thrown  the  tea  into  the  river.  Notwithstanding  these  commotions  and 
the  great  noise  of  an  open  rupture  with  the  mother  country,  Alexander 
Cathcart  and  his  daughter  Mary  contented  themselves  during  the  winter 
in  the  prospect  and  full  e.xpectation  of  a  speedy  return  home  to  Irelaijd 
in  the  spring  But  when  the  spring  opened  they  found  their  hopes  cut 
off,  as  it  was  now  becoming  dangerous  to  return  from  the  United  States 
to  Europe,  and  in  this  situation  they  remained  till  the  war  broke  out 
and  raged  for  years  without  any  prospect  of  its  termination. 

At  length  David  Cathcart  concluded  to  cross  over  to  the  west  side 
of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  and  seek  a  residence  and  a  home  in  what 
was  then  called  the  backwoods. 

And  as  the  war  still  raged  between  the  Americans  and  the  English, 
and  no  chance  to  pass  safely  to  Ireland  appeared,  it  was  concluded  upon 
that  Alexander  Cathcart  and  his  daughter  Mary  should  accompany  his 
son  David  in  his  removal  west  of  the  mountains ;  yet  he  consented  to 
this  very  reluctantly,  as  he  still  entertained  hopes  of  the  termination 
of  the  war,  at  which  time  he  hoped  to  find  a  passage  home  again  to 
Ireland  to  the  bosom  of  his  wife  and  family  and  his  friends. 

Notwithstanding  his  reluctance,  he  did  accompany  his  son  David, 
with  his  daughter  Mary,  over  the  mountains,  where  they  settled  in  a 
cabin  between  the  Youghiogheny  River  and  Redstone  Creek,  between 
where  Connellsville  and  Uniontown  now  stand,  in  a  settlement  then  and 
long  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Redstone  Settlement." 

During  the  journey  over  the  mountains  the  old  gentleman's  health 
was  but  poor  and  his  spirits  low,  so  much  so  that  when  they  arrived  at 


80  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1784. 

the  cabin  aforementioned  he  was  so  weak  that  he  had  to  be  helped  in 
and  out  of  bed  like  a  child.  And  the  next  morning,  while  his  son 
David  and  his  hired  man  held  him  up  on  a  sheet  while  his  daughter 
Mary  made  the  bed,  he  fainted,  and  his  spirit  took  its  flight  to  another 
world,  and  the  next  day  his  remains  were  decently  buried  in  the  Presby- 
terian graveyard  at  the  old  meeting-house.     He  died  April  15,  1780. 

His  son,  David  Cathcart,  married  Susannah  Guthridge,  in  Ireland, 
September  3,  1770,  and  they  came  to  America  in  1772.  She  died  in 
Fayette  County  April  21,  1S26,  aged  78,  and  he  died  June  17,  1836. 

My  mother's  brother,  David  Cathcart,  having  at  an  earlier  period 
than  1776  settled  in  Nottingham  Township,  Chester  County,  Pa.,  in  a 
settlement  of  Quakers,  they  induced  my  uncle,  some  time  after  they 
had  become  acquainted  with  him,  to  rent  a  mill  in  that  township,  in 
Chester  County,  the  spring  of  1776,  which  mill  he  kept  rented  till  the 
spring  of  1780,  at  which  time  he  left  and  moved  out  west  and  settled 
west  of  the  mountains,  in  Dunbar  Township,  Fayette  County,  Pa. 

In  January,  183 1,  James  Armstrong  came  to  me  as  I  was  then  living 
on  the  old  farm  once  owned  by  John  Hindman,  the  father  of  my  wife, 
Jane  Hindman,  and  requested  me  to  go  home  with  him  and  instruct 
him  how  to  make  a  good  strong  ox-sled.  I  complied  with  his  request, 
and  in  three  days  we  had  what  they  wanted,  a  well-made,  good,  strong 
ox-sled.  But  we  did  not  pretend  to  work  at  the  sled  at  night,  but  sat 
around  the  fire  chatting  till  bed-time.  And  the  first  night  old  Mr. 
Armstrong,  whose  first  name  was  Gabriel,  the  father  of  James,  and  who 
lived  till  he  was  ninety-five  years  of  age,  made  inquiry  of  me  if  my 
father  and  mother  had  come  from  Ireland,  and  if  so,  from  what  parts 
there.  I  replied  that  my  father  came  from  County  Derry,  Ireland,  and 
my  mother  from  County  Fermanagh,  three  miles  from  Enniskillen. 

"And  what  was  your  mother's  maiden-name?"  he  eagerly  asked. 
"  Her  maiden  name  was  Mary  Cathcart,"  I  replied. 

"  And  was  she  any  akin  to  David  Cathcart  ?  "  he  as  eagerly  inquired. 
"  David  Cathcart  was  my  mother's  eldest  brother,"  said  I. 

This  information  astonished  old  Mr.  Armstrong,  but  he  soon  recov- 
ered himself,  and  told  me  that  he  had  been  well  acquainted  with  David 
Cathcart  in  their  young  days,  for  they  had  been  school-boj's  together, 
and  at  that  time,  when   at  school   together,  the  only  difference   between 


1784  ]  FAMIL  V  HISTOR  V.  31 

us  was  that  he  was  five  years  older  than  I,  and  he  was  a'  much  stouter 
and  bigger  boy.  And  said  he :  "I  remember  he  wore  at  school  a  red 
cap  in  place  of  a  hat;  he  and  I  were  born  old  style,  he  in  1744  and  I 
in  1749.  Your  uncle  married  and  came  away  from  Ireland  before  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  I  did  not  come  in  till  long  after  that  war  was 
over.  I  made  my  first  settlement  after  crossing  the  mountains  near  to 
Brownsville,  and  had  occasion  to  go  to  Mason's  Furnace  for  some 
castings  for  house  use.  And  having  heard  of  David  Cathcart  living 
on  the  roadside  a  few  miles  this  side  of  the  furnace,  I  stopped  to  see 
him,  and  he  afterwards  paid  us  a  visit  while  we  were  living  near  Browns- 
ville, and  that  was  the  last  meeting  we  had." 

From  the  time  old  Gabriel  Armstrong  had  made  my  acquaintance 
just  mentioned,  I  was  always  treated  by  the  old  man  and  his  two  sons, 
James  and  William,  as  if  I  had  been  a  near  relative,  or  a  connection  of 
the  family ;  and  that  affection  was  sincere, — no  affectation  about  it,  and 
it  lasted  while  life  lasted  with  them. 

Thus  lived  and  died  Alexander  Cathcart  far  from  his  home  and  his 
native  land, — far  from  his  wife  and  children  and  friends,  in  a  strange 
land,  nearly  a  wilderness,  with  few  to  mourn  his  loss  or  applaud  his 
worth.  Here,  it  is  true,  were  his  eldest  son  David  and  his  wife,  and  his 
daughter  Mary,  who  could  hardly  sustain  the  shock  of  grief,  since  he 
had  been  her  constant  companion,  and  for  a  time  she  refused  to  be 
comforted.  She  knew  she  had  lost  her  father,  friend  and  guardian  ; 
she  had  lost  him  who  had  been  the  comfort  and  stay  of  her  youth  ;  him 
who  had  guided  her  feet  in  the  paths  of  virtue  and  religion ;  him  who 
had  so  often  prayed  with  and  for  her,  and  had  pointed  the  way  to 
heaven  and  happiness  with  his  eyes  turned  thitherward, — those  eyes 
that  had  watched  over  her  childhood  and  ripening  years  were  now 
closed  forever  in  the  sleep  of  death.  And  that  body  which  once 
exhibited  every  glow  of  health  and  vigor  was  now  laid  under  the  clods 
of  the  valley  to  moulder  to  dust,  and  there  to  rest  from  its  labors  till  the 
last  trumpet  shall  sound  to  awake  it  from  its  slumbering. 

Alexander  Cathcart,  at  his  death,  was  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his 
age,  and  but  few  men  have  lived  as  honest  and  virtuous  a  life ;  his  wife, 
Ann  Gamble  Cathcart,  survived  him  thirty  years,  and  died,  universally 
esteemed  by  all  who  knew  her,  in  the  ninety-third  year  of  her  age. 


32  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1784. 

But  to  return — What  made  it  still  more  painful  and  hard  to  bear  for 
the  mind  of  Mary  Cathcart,  she  now  saw  herself  in  a  wilderness,  more 
than  three  thousand  mijes  from  home,  separated  by  a  vast  ocean  from 
her  mother,  brother,  sisters  and  friends,  and  that  without  any  possible 
chance  of  returning  to  their  embraces  and  pleasing  society.  While  her 
father  lived  there  was  yet  a  possible  chance  of  their  returning  so  soon 
as  the  war  would  be  over,  but  now,  seeing  he  was  dead,  hope  hung  upon 
the  end  of  a  poisoned  arrow,  and  that  wounded,  dying  hope  must  now 
give  place  to  anguish,  grief  and  sorrow,  and  almost  despair.  Her 
situation  could  not  now  be  bettered  by  looking  back  upon  the  past,  or 
retracing  the  long  road  and  distance  which  lay  between  her  and  her 
friends  and  home. 

She  must  bring  her  mind  to  bear  up  under  afflictions  and  deprivations, 
and  what  philosophy  cannot  do  for  her,  religion  can  do ;  the  mind  must 
now  be  brought  to  submit  to  the  will  of  her  heavenly  Father,  who  no 
doubt  had  a  wise  purpose  to  bring  about  in  all  this  which  appeared  to 
her  so  grievous  and  so  great  a  calamity.  She  must  now,  in  a  great 
measure,  forget  the  land  of  her  nativity,  with  all  its  variety  of  innocent 
sports  of  youth  with  her  friends  and  relations,  and  turn  her  attention 
on  what  may  be  her  future  prospects,  and  trust  in  the  guidance  of  that 
Providence  who  had  hitherto  conducted  her  in  peace,  safety  and  health 
from  childhood  to  riper  years. 

She  was  now,  at  the  time  of  her  father's  death,  in  the  twenty-ninth 
year  of  her  age,  and  although  troubles  and  sorrows  had  now  taken  hold 
of  her,  yet  the  bloom  of  youth  was  not  at  this  time  in  the  least  faded, — 
this  bloom  held  its  empire  with  unrivaled  sway  till  further  cares,  hard- 
ships and  troubles,  as  age  crept  on,  dethroned  it,  for  time  alone  must 
have  robbed  her  of  that  possession. 

I  have  stated  that  at  her  father's  death  she  was  in  the  twenty-ninth 
year  of  her  age,  and  although  she  had  lost  her  father,  and  was  far 
separated  from  her  mother,  the  best  of  earthly  friends,  yet  she  was  in  a 
better  situation  than  thousands  of  her  fellow-beings  who  have  neither 
house,  nor  home,  nor  friends,  nor  comfort,  other  than  what  may  be 
picked  up  in  their  passage  through  an  unfriendly  world.  She  had  an 
elder  brother  to  assist  in  bearing  her  burthen  of  grief  and  sorrow  which 
had  arisen  upon  the  sudden  death  of  her  father ;  she  had  a  sister-in-law 


1784.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  33 

who  might  be  able  to  pour  consolation  into  the  wounds  of  the  spirit, 
and  who  might  render  assistance  by  timely  advice,  and  to  whom  she 
might  unbosom  herself  in  the  absence  of  her  own  sisters  and  mother. 
She  had  her  brother  to  be  her  guardian  and  protector  from  insults  and 
harrn,  and  his  house  to  be  her  home  until  Providence  should  see  fit  to 
provide  otherwise  for  her. 

While  she  was  deeply  afflicted  from  the  loss  of  her  father,  and  sepa- 
rated far,  far  distant  from  those  her  heart  and  soul  held  dear,  yet  she  had 
a  secret  consolation  on  reflection  from  that  religion  which  she  had 
received  in  her  early  youth,  from  the  instruction  of  her  pious  parents, 
from  reading  the  word  of  God,  and  from  the  pastoral  labors  of  Mr. 
Cashida,  the  parish  minister  of  the  Established  Church,  to  which  she 
and  her  father's  family  belonged  ;  and  although  many  who  belong  to 
that  church,  as  well  as  those  who  belong  to  other  churches,  only  lay 
hold  of  the  outward  rites  and  ceremonies,  without  tasting  of  the  sweets 
within,  yet  this  could  not  be  said  of  her. 

She  had  known  something  of  the  sinfulness  of  sin,  and  how  broad 
the  commandment  was,  which  was  fully  verified  in  her  long  and  well- 
spent  life. 

It  was  this  which  gave  life  and  action  to  all  those  virtuous  principles 
which  dwelt  so  richly  in  her,  and  diffused  their  influence  so  much 
around  her. 

CHARACTER   OF    EARLY    SETTLERS. 

And  here  it  may  not  be  improper  to  remark  that  although  she 
thought  herself  settled  in  the  heart  of  a  savage  wilderness  where  God 
was  not  feared  or  worshipped,  yet  she  was  in  that  mistaken,  for  among 
the  early  settlers  in  Redstone  Settlement  there  was  a  great  number  of 
pious  Christian  people  who  were  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Christ's 
kingdom.  Witness  the  early  establishment  of  a  church  called  Laurel 
Hill.  Before  she  arrived  there  the  settlement  was  then  ten  years  old, 
chiefly  all  Presbyterians, — not  a  Methodist  was  to  be  found  in  all  that 
new  country,  except  the  renegade,  "  wild  turkey  "  breed,  who  had  the 
"  method  "  of  drinking  whiskey  in  its  purity  in  copious  draughts. 

As  I  have  said  with  regard  to  the  early  settlers  of  the  Redstone 
Settlement,  I  might  have  remarked  the  same  with  reference  to  all  the 
settlements  then  west  of  the  mountains,  which  spread  themselves  along 
3 


34  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1784. 

through  what  is  now  Westmoreland,  Fayette,  Allegheny,  Washington, 
and  a  part  of  Greene  Counties  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Brooke  and  Ohio 
Counties  in  Virginia.  Witness  the  number  'of  meeting-houses  erected 
in  every  settlement,  which  were  well  and  regularly  attended  for  the 
purpo.se  of  public  worship. 

Witness  also  the  pains  taken  by  those  pious  parents  in  the  training 
of  their  children  for  Christ's  kingdom,  by  praying  with  and  for  them, 
by  their  unremitting  attention  to  teach  them  all  the  precepts  of  the 
moral  law ;  likewise  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel, — its  precepts  and  the 
dispensing  of  its  ordinances.  And  particularlj',  they  taught  their 
children  to  remember  the  Sabbath  Day, — a  practice  among  Christians 
and  all  others  so  necessary  and  right,  and  so  highly  commendable  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  particularly  in  a  wilderness  just  emerged  from 
savage  to  civilized  life. 


SECTION     I  I. 

■  1 784-1805. 

THE   MOUNTAIN   HOME. 

SUCH  was  the  country,  and  such  the  inhabitants  in  the  year  1 780, 
at  which  period  John  Sherrard  and  Mary  Cathcart,  my  father 
and  mother,  first  became  acquainted. 
That  acquaintance  grew  into  friendship,  and,  in  fact,  Mary  Cathcart 
helped  to  make  the  suit  of  clothes  which  John  Sherrard  wore  in  Craw- 
ford's campaign.  After  his  return  from  this  campaign  he  spent  two 
years  in  courtship,  which  resulted  in  their  marriage,  as  before  stated, 
on  May  5,  1784. 

My  father  had  already  purchased  a  small  farm  of  sixty  acres  of  land, 
the  same  which  my  brother  David  now  owns  and  resides  on,  and  for 
this  farm  he  paid  the  sum  of  120  pounds  cash.     On  this  farm  he  settled 


1784.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  35 

with  his   newly-married  wife,  and   in  due   time  children   were  born   to 
them  as  follows : 

William born  May  7,  1785. 


David  Alexander  Cathcart  , 

John  James 

Robert  Andrew 

Mary  Ann 

Thomas  Guthridge   .    .    . 


September  2,  1786. 
October  28,  1787. 
May  4,  1789. 
December  6,  1790. 
March  18,  1793. 


(These  six  children  died  as  follows : 

William died  November  7,  1820. 

David  Alexander  Cathcart "     June  2,  1880. 

John  James "     July  14,  i85o. 

Robert  Andrew "•  January  i,  1874. 

Mary  Ann,  died  only  a  few  hours  after  her  birth. 

Thomas  Guthridge "     March  26,  1824. 

John  Sherrard,  the  father  of  the  above-mentioned  children,  died 
April  22,  1809,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  Quaker  graveyard  at  Smith- 
field,  Ohio.  The  spot  cannot  now  be  identified.  Mary  Cathcart 
Sherrard,  the  mother,  died  October  27,  1833,  and  was  buried  at  Laurel 
Hill,  Pa.— T.  J.  S.) 

After  their  marriage  and  settlement  on  the  farm  of  sixty  acres,  on 
the  road  between  Connellsville  and  Uniontown,  three  miles  southwest 
of  the  former  and  five  miles  from  the  latter,  my  father  gathered  in  and 
summed  up  his  money,  which  now  amounted  to  only  four  hundred 
pounds  of  hard  money,  besides  the  quantity  of  depreciated  Continental 
money  which  he  had,  and  which  now,  only  three  years  after  the  close 
of  the  war,  and  one  year  after  Jay's  Treaty,  was  all  good  for  nothing. 

It  is  true  he  did  make  out  to  purchase  a  hone  for  his  razor, — the 
same  Lough  Neagh  hone  which  I  now  have  in  my  possession  (and  it 
is  now,  January  14,  1889,  in  my  possession — T.  J.  S.), — for  which  he 
paid  sixty  dollars  in  Continental  money.  The  balance  of  his  Conti- 
nental money  made  shaving  paper,  and  was  good  for  little  else,  except 
that  I  have,  with  care,  preserved  a  five-dollar  bill  and  a  one-dollar  bill 
out  of  it,  and  this  is  all  that  now  remains  of  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  dollars  of  it,  which  my  father  had  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War. 


36  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1784. 


MISFORTUNES. 

My  father  made  a  poor  out  with  what  money  he  had  left,  for  he  was 
never  a  good  business  manager,  and,  as  if  misfortune  had  broken  loose 
from  every  flood-gate,  he  was  now  assailed  from  another  quarter,  being 
involved  in  a  vexatious  and  seemingly  interminable  lawsuit. 

A  man  by  the  name  of  Jonathan  Hill,  who  had  lately  moved  from 
New  Jersey  into  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  my  father,  had 
purchased  a  right  to  the  tract  of  land  on  which  my  father  had  made 
improvements  and  was  now  living. 

Hill  contended  that  his  right  was  the  oldest  and  best,  and  under  it 
he  made  a  demand  for  the  possession  of  the  land,  to  which  my  father 
would  not  consent.  In  consequence  of  this  refusal  Hill  entered  a 
lawsuit  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  at  Beesontown  (now  Uniontown), 
which  suit,  in  all  its  turnings,  bearings,  twistings  and  windings,  lasted 
for  ELEVEN  years,  and  was  finally  decided  in  my  father's  favor,  after  Hill 
had  lost  it  three  different  times,  and  had  been  cast  in  the  cost ;  but 
Hill  made  a  fourth  attempt  to  renew  it,  and  succeeded  so  far  as  to 
obtain  a  writ,  and  the  deputy-sheriff  was  sent  after  my  father. 

I  well  remember  when  he  came  to  our  house  to  serve  the  writ,  and 
inquired  for  my  father,  but  was  told  by  my  mother  that  he  had  gone 
to  Connellsville.  He  then  inquired  which  way  he  would  return,  and 
was  told  that  there  was  but  one  direct  road.  He  set  off  and  met  my 
father  but  a  little  way  this  side  of  Connellsville,  where  he  made  him  a 
prisoner,  and  was  conveying  him  on  to  Uniontown,  when  they  were 
met  by  a  neighbor  named  George  Thompson,  who  went  my  father's 
security  for  his  appearance  at  Court. 

COURT   AT   UNIONTOWN. 

When  Court  came  on  and  the  cause  was  called  for  trial,  James 
Findly,  one  of  the  Associate  Judges,  stepped  down  from  the  bench, 
and  informed  the  Court  that  this  was  the  same  cause  that  had  been 
three  times  tried  already  in  this  Court,  and  had  each  time  been  decided 
in  John  Sherrard's  favor,  as  the  records  of  the  court  would  show. 

Some    debate    then    took    place    between    Judge    Findly    and     Hill's 


1785.]  FAMIL  V  HISTOR  V.  37 

lawyer,  for  my  father  had  thought  it  unnecessary  to  fee  a  lawyer  for 
this  case  again,  and  the  case  was  dismissed,  and  Hill  had  again  to  pay 
the  costs.  But  as  it  was,  even  if  Hill  did  have  the  costs  to  pay  in  each 
case,  my  father  did  not  get  clear  of  cost  and  trouble,  for  he  had  his 
lawyer  to  pay  in  the  other  suits,  and  his  own  expenses  while  waiting 
the  tardy  motions  of  the  Court  and  the  loss  of  his  own  time,  all  put 
together,  was  worth  half  the  land,  as  land  rated  in  those  times. 

When  this  same  Jonathan  Hill  first  arrived  in  Redstone  Settlement 
he  was  considered  the  richest  man  west  of  the  mountains.  He  bought 
and  sold  and  owned  a  very  great  number  of  fine  farms,  and  drove  the 
world  ahead  of  him,  and  being  a  man  of  an  active  turn  of  mind,  he  lived 
to  a  great  age.  But  at  last  he  died  in  the  county  poor-house  of  Fayette 
County,  Pa.,  his  own  executor,  for  his  riches  had  made  to  themselves 
wings  and  had  flown  away.  In  August,  1819,  at  the  August  term  of 
the  Oourt  of  Common  Pleas,  I  was  in  Uniontown  on  business  before  the 
Orphans'  Court,  and  I  saw  this  same  Jonathan  Hill  brought  out  of 
the  county  jail,  and  arraigned  at  the  bar  for  the  murder  of  his  wife. 
He  was  at  this  time  upwards  of  eighty  years  of  age,  his  head  silvered 
over  past  a  gray  and  nearly  a  white.  He  had  somewhat  of  an  antiquated 
and  venerable  appearance,  and  I  could  not  help  viewing  him,  and 
reflecting  on  the  times  that  were  past,  when  he  drove  the  world  before 
him  in  splendor;  and  now  he  sat  in  the  bar  charged  with  the  murder 
of  his  own  wife, — an  awful  warning  to  the  world,  and  especially  to  all 
who  knew  him.  It  was  the  generally  received  opinion  that  he  was 
crazy  when  he  committed  the  deed,  and  he  was  cleared  upon  fair  trial. 

When  my  father's  first  child  and  son,  William,  was  born,  there  was 
great  cause  of  rejoicing  that  7th  day  of  May,  1785,  for  both  father  and 
mother  were  getting  up  in  years,  he  being  thirty-five  years  old,  and 
she  but  six  months  younger. 

GRANDMOTHER  SHERRARD  COMES  TO  AMERICA. 

Shortly  after  the  birth  of  the  first  child  there  was  a  second  cause  of 
rejoicing,  the  occasion  being  the  arrival,  on  a  visit,  of  my  father's  only 
brother,  James. 

He  had  arrived  with  his  mother  in  Philadelphia  from  Ireland,  and 
leaving  her  in    Philadelphia,  he  had   come   out   over   the   mountains  in 


38  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1786. 

search  of  my  father.  He  remained  but  a  short  time,  and  returned  with 
my  father  to  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  my  Grandmother 
Sherrard  out  over  the  mountains.  But  by  the  time  they  reached 
Philadelphia  they  found  that  the  old  lady  had  become  home-sick,  and 
so  disgusted  with  America  that  she  would  go  no  farther  into  it,  but 
must  return  home  again  to  Ireland.  And  if  they  must  go,  it  was  well 
that  they  returned  immediately,  for  on  leaving  Ireland  they  had  sold 
their  beautiful  freehold  farm  near  Newton  Limavady,  and  the  old  lady, 
fearing  that  she  might  not  like  America,  made  a  provision  in  the 
contract  of  the  sale,  that  if  she  did  not  like  the  United  States,  and 
should  return  within  a  certain  specified  time,  the  money  would  be 
returned,  and  they  should  have  possession  of  the  farm  again. 

They  accordingly  set  sail  from  Philadelphia,  and  arrived  safe  at 
Newton  Limavady  just  three  weeks  before  the  time  set  in  the  contract 
had  expired.  My  father  returned  from  Philadelphia  with  a  heavy  tieart 
in  having  to  part  with  his  mother  and  brother,  never  more  to  behold 
them  again  on  earth. 

(Just  here  it  ought  to  be  stated  that  there  is  no  record  that  there 
was  ever  any  further  communication  between  Grandfather  John  Sher- 
rard, and  his  mother,  Margaret  Johnston  Sherrard,  or  with  his  brother, 
James  Sherrard,  and  I  have  often  heard  father  say  that  he  never  knew 
anything  more  about  those  relatives  in  Ireland,  or  what  ever  became 
of  his  Uncle  James,  except  that  a  cousin,  John  Johnston,  of  Brownsville, 
had  once  told  him  that  he  had  heard  that  James  and  his  mother  did 
arrive  home  safe  and  in  time  to  recover  their  farm, — and  that  James 
took  part  in  the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1798,  and  it  was  reported  that  he 
had  escaped  to  America,  through  the  aid  of  influential  friends  in  both 
armies,  but  of  this  fact  we  have  never  had  any  corroboration. — T.  J.  S.) 

My  father  continued  to  occupy  his  farm,  and  time  rolled  on  until  the 
2d  day  of  September,  1786,  when  a  second  son  was  born,  whom  they 
called  David,  for  his  uncle,  my  mother's  brother,  and  he  was  christened 
David  Alexander  Cathcart,  the  latter  part  of  the  name  being  added  for 
the  sake  of  his  grandfather  on  his  mother's  side,  Alexander  Cathcart. 
When  he  was  fourteen  months  old  he  was  taken  from  his  mother  and 
given  to  his  uncle,  David  Cathcart,  who  had  been  married  now  the 
space  of  fifteen  years  and  had  no  heirs,  and  no  likelihood  of  having  any, 


1789.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  39 

and  my  brother  David  was  given  him  so  that  he  might  become  heir 
of  his  property,  and  he  did  inherit  his  property,  and  has  remained  on 
that  same  farm  to  the  time  of  this  present  writing,  a  space  of  forty-three 
years.  (Father  wrote  this  in  1829,  and  Uncle  David  continued  to  live 
on  that  farm  for  fifty-one  years  longer,  until  his  death,  June  2,  1S80. 
-T.  J.  S.) 

REMOVAL  TO  THE  MOUNTAIN  HOME. 

My  father  did  not  prosper  in  his  business,  and  a  long  train  of  mis- 
fortunes coming  on  apace,  he  was  forced  to  sell  his  place  to  my  uncle, 
David  Cathcart,  and  took  a  lease  from  him  on  a  tract  of  300  acres, 
on  the  side  of  the  mountain  not  far  from  Mason's  old  furnace, — the 
same  tract  that  my  father  had  sold  to  my  uncle  only  a  few  years  before. 
To  this  farm  the  family  removed  the  spring  of  1787,  and  on  the  28th 
day  of  October,  1787,  a  third  son  was  born,  and  the  child  was  called 
John,  for  his  father,  but  at  his  baptism  the  name  of  James  was  added 
for  our  Uncle  James  in  Ireland. 

Again,  on  the  4th  day  of  May,  1789,  I  was  born,  and  they  gave  me 
the  name  of  Robert,  the  name  Andrew  being  added  at  my  baptism, — 
the  first  for  my  mother's  brother,  Robert  Cathcart,  who  died  in  Ireland 
when  a  young  man,  from  a  fall  which  he  got  in  wrestling, — the  other 
name  was  added  for  my  mother's  younger  brother,  Andrew  Cathcart, 
who  lives  in  Otsego  County,  Butternut  Township,  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  (His  only  son.  John  Ale.xander  Cathcart,  settled  in  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  in- 1820,  and  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business. — T.  J.  S.) 

On  December  6,  1790,  my  mother  had  a  daughter  who  lived  only 
two  or  three  hours  after  her  birth,  but  had  she  lived  she  would  have 
been  called  Mary  Ann,  after  mother  and  Grandmother  Cathcart,  whose 
maiden-name  was  Ann  Gamble. 

On  the  1 8th  day  of  March,  1793,  my  brother,  Thomas  Guthridge, 
was  born,  being  the  fifth  son  and  last  child  of  John  and  Mary  Cathcart 
Sherrard. 


40  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1794. 


WHISKEY   INSURRECTION. 

It  was  the  next  year,  1794,  that  what  is  known  as  the  Whiskey- 
Insurrection  occurred  in  Western  Pennsylvania. 

This  was  in  consequence  of  the  obnoxious  excise  law  passed  under 
the  administration  of  George  Washington,  which  law  has  frequently 
since  been  charged  to  the  administration  of  John  Adams,  which  did  not 
begin  until  the  4th  of  March,  1797.  The  resistance  to  this  law  caused 
President  Washington  to  send  out  an  army  to  quell  the  disturbance. 
Owing  to  the  high  state  of  feeling  among  the  people  of  the  southwest- 
ern counties,  great  numbers  of  Liberty  Poles  were  raised  during  the  fall 
of  1793  and  the  spring  of  1794  at  all  towns,  taverns,  furnaces  and  cross- 
roads. A  label  or  inscription,  in  large  capital  letters  some  fifteen  inches 
in  length,  would  be  put  on  a  board,  and  this  board  would  be  nailed  to 
the  pole  about  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  above  the  ground,  while  on  the  top 
of  the  pole,  at  the  height  of  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  feet, 
would  be  fastened  a  red-striped  flag,  which  waved  in  the  air  till  the 
wind  and  weather  tore  it  to  pieces  or  the  liberty  pole  was  taken 
down. 

I  remember  that  some  time  in  the  spring  of  1794  there  was  the 
raising  of  a  liberty  pole  at  the  Furnace  on  Dunbar's  Run,  which  had 
just  been  built,  and  was  owned  by  Isaac  Mason  and  Moses  Dillon,  who 
was  from  near  Baltimore,  and  is  now  (August  iSth,  1832)  living  near 
Zanesville,  Ohio. 

My  father  was  invited  to  assist  at  the  raising  of  this  pole,  and  he 
took  his  wife  and  four  sons  with  him — all  quite  young,  for  I  was  only 
five  and  a  half  years  old;  but  he  wished  to  teach  them  liberty  and 
patriotism. 

SECOND  TRIP   TO   KENTUCKY. 

The  same  fall  of  1794,  having  previously  disposed  of  all  his  land  in 
Pennsylvania,  my  father  made  a  vendue,  and  sold  off  nearly  all  his  per- 
sonal property,  with  the  intention  of  moving  down  the  river  in  the 
spring  to  Kentucky,  expecting  to  take  possession  of  his  1400  acre 
tract  in  that  State,  which  he  had  taken  up  at  so  much  risk  and  pains 
the  spring  and  summer  of  1774. 


1799.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  41 

But  thinking  it  more  prudent  to  pass  down  the  river  himself  and 
visit  the  land,  and  make  such  arrangements  as  he  might  find  to  be 
necessary,  he  left  home  and  family  some  time  in  November,  1794,  and 
arrived  safe  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  his  tract  of  land  being  not  many 
miles  from  that  place,  and  near  what  is  now  known  as  Millersburg. 

He  soon  found  and  visited  his  land;  but,  to  his  mortification,  he 
found  the  land  already  occupied, — that  a  man  by  the  name  of  Miller 
had  taken  possession  of  it  by  putting  a  tenant  on  it,  and  thereby 
improving  it  for  his  own  use.  As  stated  in  the  early  part  of  this  record, 
he  returned  home  again  about  the  first  of  March,  1795,  after  an 
absence  of  four  months.  On  this  return  trip  he  walked  every  step  of 
the  way  along  the  east  bank  of  the  Ohio  River  to  Wheeling,  and  thence 
across  the  country  through  Washington,  Pa.,  and  so  on,  and  upon  his 
return  he  was  much  discouraged. 

Ten  years  later,  in  September,  1805,  I  heard  a  Mr.  Fisher,  from  Ken- 
tucky, telling  my  father  that  he  knew  well  the  tract  of  land  that  old 
Miller  occupied,  and  that  at  that  time,  September,  1805,  it  was  worth  at 
least  $15  per  acre. 

After  his  return  home  he  concluded  not  to  move  to  Kentucky  for  the 
present,  seeing  that  his  right  to  his  land  in  that  State  was  disputed,  and 
must  be  gained,  if  gained  at  all,  by  a  litigious  lawsuit.  This  would  be 
very  discouraging  to  any  man,  but  more  so  to  a  man  of  my  father's 
disposition ;  for  he  was  easy,  good-natured  and  cheerful,  and  always 
fearful  of  giving  offence;  kindly  obliging  to  all,  but  especially  to  his 
wife  and  family, — too  much  so  for  the  good  of  his  boys,  had  it  not  been 
that  my  mother  possessed  sufficient  energy  to  batter  the  boys  about  and 
guide  their  infant  course,  both  by  correction  and  counsel,  from  the  blind 
path  of  infantile  ignorance  up  to  the  towering  height  of  manhood. 

THE    1400   ACRES    IN    KENTUCKY. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1799,  Colonel  James  Paull,  in  partnership  with 
his  brother-in-law,  James  Rodgers,  concluded  that  at  all  hazards  they 
would  purchase  my  father's  right  to  the  1400  acres  of  land  in  Kentucky, 
lying  near  Millersburg,  on  the  following  conditions: 

First.  They  agreed  to  pay,  and  did  pay  down  in  hand  to  said  John 
Sherrard,  hit  or  miss,  gain  or  loss,  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds,  lawful  cur- 


42  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1799. 

rency  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  And,  second,  If  on  bringing  suit 
against  old  Miller,  who  contended  for  a  later  and  better  right  to  that 
survey,  although  made  by  John  Sherrard  in  May,  1774,  long  before  said 
Miller  had  formed  the  design  of  defrauding  my  father  or  his  assigns  out 
of  said  1400  acres  of  as  good  land  as  could  be  found  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky, — if  they.  Colonel  James  Paul!  and  James  Rodgers,  should 
gain  the  land  by  a  decision  of  the  Kentucky  Court,  then  and  in  that 
case  they  were  to  pay  to  said  John  Sherrard  the  further  sum  of  seventy 
pounds. 

These  men  did  bring  suit  against  Miller,  and  lost  the  land,  the  whole 
of  which  in  1805  must  have  been  worth  ^2 1,000,  according  to  the  state- 
ment of  Mr.  Fisher,  aforesaid;  and  no  doubt  the  same  land  would  now 
sell  for  ^150  per  acre,  for  I  was  informed  that  two  years  before  the 
Rebellion  broke  out,  or  in  1859,  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Lexington  and 
Millersburg  would  sell  for  $100  per  acre. 

Some  time  in  January,  1826,  Colonel  Paull  informed  me  that  he  car- 
ried the  papers  that  had  been  made  out  belonging  to  the  survey,  and 
the  fulfillment  of  the  old  Virginia  law,  and  everything  belonging  to  its 
being  lawfully  located  by  my  father,  to  Petersburg,  Virginia,  the  seat  of 
government  at  that  time  for  that  State.  He  further  informed  me  that 
my  father  lost  his  right  to  his  Kentucky  land  by  a  wrong  or  bad  entry, 
and  that  he  supposed  that  Miller,  on  examining  the  entry-book,  took 
advantage  of  that  wrong,  and  took  out  a  new  right,  and  had  a  proper 
record  made.  After  my  father's  return  from  Kentucky,  he  engaged  in 
work  at  Mason's  Furnace,  and  my  brother  William,  who  was  then  ten 
years  of  age,  worked  along  with  father,  except  that  William  would  go 
to  school  in  the  winter. 

BOUND    FOR    KENTUCKY    A    THIRD    TIME. 

After  three  years'  laborious  employment  at  the  Furnace,  my  father 
again  concluded  to  go  to  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  to  carry  out  that 
purpose  he  made  a  sale  of  such  property  as  he  thought  would  not  do  to 
remove  to  that  State.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1799,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  month  of  March,  he  removed  his  family  to  the  Youghiogheny 
River,  a  little  distance  above  Connellsville,  with  the  intention  of  waiting 
for  the  rising  of  the  water,  that  he  and  his  family  might  embark  for  the 


1799.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  43 

State  of  Kentucky.  Here  the  family  stayed  till  May,  .still  expecting  the 
water  to  rise;  but  the  spring  season  was  very  dry,  and  the  river,  being 
at  best  a  small  one,  kept  so  very  low  that  no  boats  could  pass  down 
that  season. 

THE   CABIN   ON   THE  YOUGHIOGHENY.   . 

After  my  father  had  removed  the  family  into  an  old  cabin  near  the 
Youghiogheny  River,  above  Connellsville,  he  took  a  notion  to  remove 
the  logs  of  said  cabin,  and  re-build  it  farther  down  towards  Connells- 
ville ;  for  which  I  cannot  account,  as  he  and  the  family  were  but  staying 
just  long  enough  until  the  river  would  rise  to  carry  them  down  to  Ken- 
tucky. I  remember,  after  the  cabin  was  taken  down,  that  I  happened  to 
see  some  small  pieces  of  a  certain  old  coat  of  my  father's  lying  strewed 
about,  and  I  picked  them  up,  and  preserved  them  as  relics  of  bygone 
times.  And  upon  reflecting  on  the  times  and  places  which  I  had  often 
seen  him  wear  that  same  coat  on  the  farm  on  which  I  was  born,  I  felt 
my  spirits  sink. 

This  feeling  was  caused  by  the  reflection  that  I  might  never  again  see 
the  place  of  my  nativity;  and  although  1  was  not  yet  ten  years  old,  I 
felt,  to  a  very  considerable  degree,  what  is  called  the  "blues."  But, 
notwithstanding  I  had  a  foretaste  of  it  at  so  young  a  period,  yet  I  have 
been  but  little  troubled  with  it  through  life,  and  that  is  now  more  than 
fifty  years  since,  as  I  am  now,  while  writing  this,  two  days  over  sixty 
years  old, — May  6,  1849. 

YOUNG   ROBERT   ANDREW    NEARLY    DROWNED. 

In  connection  with  the  foregoing,  I  must  here  mention  a  providential 
escape  which  I  had  from  drowning.  After  the  cabin  was  removed,  as 
before  stated,  my  mother  sent  me  to  a  small  creek,  a  few  rods  distant 
from  the  cabin,  to  bring  a  small  bucket  of  water.  From  recent  rains 
the  little  creek  was  much  swollen,  and  I,  being  careless,  dipped  the 
bucket  into  the  running  stream  with  a  very  slight  hold  of  the  pail,  and 
the  rapid  current  jerked  it  out  of  my  hand,  and  it  was  carried  a  consid- 
erable way  down  the  stream.  But,  fortunately,  a  tree  had  fallen  across 
the  stream,  and  over  a  part  of  the  tree  the  water  was  flowing,  so  that  as 
the  bucket  passed,  it  caught  by  the  bail  on  a  short  snag,  and  there  it 


44  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1799. 

hung  not  more  than  five  or  six  rods  fi-om  where  the  stream  emptied 
into  the  Youghiogheny  River,  into  which,  if  it  had  gone,  I  never  should 
have  seen  it  more.  After  the  bucket  left  niy  grasp,  I  hastily  followed  it 
down  stream,  and  seeing  it  caught  on  the  snag,  instead  of  passing  to  it 
on  the  log,  I  stepped  into  the  stream  below  the  log,  and  down  I  went 
eight  or  ten  feet,  and  popped  up  again  like  a  ball,  and  caught  hold  of  a 
bush  on  the  bank,  and  drew  myself  out.  I  now  passed  on  the  log,  and 
got  the  bucket,  and  filled  it  with  water,  and  went  home  to  mother  as 
draggled  as  a  rat.  But,  instead  of  her  commiserating  me,  she  got  a 
stick  and  wattled  me  well  for  my  carelessness;  but  I  always  thought 
this  chastisement  very  unjust,  for  it  was  a  narrow  escape  for  me. 

RE-VISITING   THE   OLD   BIRTH-PLACE. 

On  Thursday,  September  29,  1859,  I  and  my  wife  Jane  Hindman,  and 
son  Thomas,  with  Uncle  David  and  Aunt  Martha,  started  after  break- 
fast, and  went  down  to  Dunbar  Creek,  to  the  spot  where  old  Isaac 
Mason  erected  his  first  old  forge.  The  same  property  is  now  owned  by 
Thomas  Watt,  a  brother  of  Aunt  Martha  Sherrard.  We  did  not  stay 
long  there,  but  proceeded  up  to  the  old  Union  Furnace,  which  was  not 
now  in  blast,  but  had  blown  out  only  the  Monday  before.  But,  in  view- 
ing the  Union  Furnace,  there  was  nothing  new  to  me  in  all  its  sur- 
roundings, except  that  there  had  been  vast  improvements  made  on  the 
present  furnace  over  and  above  the  old  Union  Furnace  erected  in  1792, 
and  in  full  blast  in  1794,  when  father  took  his  two  older  sons,  with  me 
and  mother,  and  Thomas,  who  was  a  baby  of  nineteen  or  twenty  months 
old,  to  see  the  Liberty  Pole  raised. 

I  was  born  on  the  4th  of  May,  1789,  and  we  left  the  premises  in  the 
month  of  March,  1799;  and  now  I  saw  that  all  the  old  buildings  were 
gone  from  around  the  furnace. 

And  so  it  was  when  we  passed  on  up  from  the  furnace  to  the  farm  I 
was  born  on,  now  owned  by  a  family  named  Porter,  he  having  married 
a  Watt,  a  sister  of  Aunt  Martha  Sherrard;  and  after  purchasing  that 
farm,  on  which  I  was  born.  Porter  named  it  Mount  Gilboa.  The  old 
dwelling  that  I  was  born  in,  and  the  cabin  in  which  my  uncle,  David 
Cathcart,  lived,  and  also  the  square  log  house  erected  for  the  old 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  minister,  put   up  the  spring  of  1794, — these 


1799.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  45 

were  all  gone,  probably  rotted  down  or  pulled  down  and  burned  for 
fire-wood;  and  all  other  improvements  in  which  father  spent  his  money 
were  gone. 

This  farm,  where  I  was  born,  was  a  part  of  the  original  tract  of  3000 
acres  which  my  father  purchased  the  fall  of  1773,  but  he  retained  only 
300  acres  of  it  after  Gist  had  come  out  with  the  king's  patent,  and 
had  run  his  lines  through  the  tract  that  my  father  had  purchased  of 
Irvin.  This  farm  of  300  acres  he  had  sold  to  my  uncle,  David  Cath- 
cart,  for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  and  bought  the  farm  of  60 
acres,  where  he  first  settled  after  his  marriage,  and  where  his  two  oldest 
sons  were  born.  About  the  spring  of  1787  he  was  forced  to  sell  that 
farm  of  60  acres,  and  my  uncle,  David  Cathcart,  bought  it.  My  father 
then  leased  the  old  300  acre  tract  on  the  mountain  side  from  Uncle 
David  Cathcart,  and  lived  on  it  for  twelve  years,  till  1799.  In  the 
mean  time  Uncle  David  Cathcart  sold  this  farm  for  the  sum  of  three 
hundred  pounds  to  James  Wilson,  and  he  in  turn  sold  it  to  old  Isaac 
Mason  for  six  hundred  pounds  cash. 

THE    OLD    ORCHARD. 

Wilson  planted  an  apple  orchard  of  fifty  trees  in  1796,  and  when  we 
were  there  the  last  of  September,  1859,  the  apples  on  some  of  the  old 
trees  made  a  good  appearance,  although  it  was  sixty-three  years  since 
they  were  planted. 

And  sixty  years  had  passed  around  since  we  had  moved  off  the  old 
farm  on  which  I  was  born  till  I  returned  to  pay  it  a  visit.  We  took 
dinner  with  Mr.  Porter  and  family,  and  it  is  very  probable  I  may  never 
dine  again  on  the  farm  where  I  was  born,  where  I  have  never  before 
dined  since  my  father  moved  the  family  off  the  said  farm,  in  March, 
1799,  which  covers  a  space  of  sixty  years  and  seven  months. 

(I  well  remember  that  visit  with  my  father  and  mother  to  the  old 
farm  when  I  was  fourteen  and  a  half  years  old,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact 
father  never  did  again  revisit  it. — Thomas  J.  Sherrard,  Editor  of  this 
Volume.) 

It  will  be  remembered  that  we  had  removed  from  the  old  farm  in 
March,  1799,  to  a  cabin  on  the  Youghiogheny,  as  my  father  expected 
to   remove   his   family  to   Kentucky  as   soon   as   the   river  would   rise. 


46  THE  SHERRARD   EAMILY.  [1799. 

But  as  the  time  passed  on  and  no  hope  of  a  rise,  my  father  was  induced 
from  the  entreaties  of  my  uncle,  David  Cathcart,  to  leave  his  present 
place  of  abode,  on  the  river,  and  move  upon  a  farm  owned  by  John 
McClelland,  and  which  had  formerly  been  occupied  by  a  tenant  named 
Pugh,  who  was  obliged  to  leave  it  in  consequence  of  his  not  being 
able  to  pay  up  his  rent. 

Pugh  was  compelled  to  leave  the  ground  with  a  crop  of  wheat  and 
rye  and  oats  in  it,  and  also  twelve  acres  of  corn  planted  and  just  up. 
McClelland,  on  his  part,  offered  my  father  the  one-half  of  the  corn  when 
husked,  if  he  would  take  possession  of  the  farm  and  work  the  corn, 
and  also  the  one-half  of  the  hay  by  cutting  and  securing  the  whole. 
My  father  accordingly  moved  the  family  to  the  farm  on  the  28th  day 
of  May,  1799,  and  having  arranged  all  his  affairs  as  well  as  he  could, 
he  appeared  to  take  the  best  steps  for  a  happy  life  that  he  had  done 
for  many  years. 

THE   STROKE   OF   PALSY. 

He  had  just  finished  breaking  the  middles  out  of  the  corn,  and  early 
on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  June  he  had  gone  to  McCleliand's  store 
for  some  articles  for  family  use,  and  on  his  way  returning,  while  he  was 
yet  in  McCleliand's  Lane,  he  was  struck  with  the  dead  palsy,  which, 
felled  him  from  his  horse,  but  not  with  a  death-stroke. 

The  hired  girl  saw  him  fall  and  ran  into  the  store  and  told  McClel- 
land, and  he  ran  out  and  raised  father  up,  but  found  that  he  could  not 
speak  nor  move  the  right  hand  or  arm,  leg  or  foot  of  that  side.  He 
was  taken  into  the  house,  and  my  Uncle  David,  with  my  aunt  and  my 
brother  David,  were  sent  for,  and  in  the  cool  of  the  evening  he  was 
placed  on  a  bed  on  a  sled,  and  so  he  was  conveyed  home  to  a  small, 
poor,  helpless  family. 

Medical  aid  was  called  in,  but  to  little  purpose  ;  it  was  ordered  that 
he  should  be  bathed  once  a  day  for  eighteen  or  twenty  days  in  a  tub 
of  lukewarm  water,  with  a  peck  of  alum  salt  dissolved  in  it.  However, 
it  was  three  months  before  he  recovered  his  speech  so  as  to  be  well 
understood,  and  about  the  same  time  he  began  to  be  able  to  use  his 
right  leg  and  foot,  so  that  he  could  get  across  the  house  floor  with 
help  ;  and  after  a  little  he  got  so  that  he  could  walk  across  the  floor 
with  a  crutch  under  the  left  arm.     And   in   process  of  time  he  got   the 


1800.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  47 

use  of  the  leg  and  foot  so  as  to  walk  out  in  the  yard,  and  after  a 
confinement  to  the  house  and  yard  for  almost  a  year,  he  got  so  that 
he  could  walk  to  the  next  neighbor's  house ;  and  in  this  situation, 
without  being  any  better  or  worse,  he  continued  healthy  and  hearty 
until  within  or  about  three  weeks  of  his  death,  which  did  not  take  place 
for  nearly  ten  years  afterwards,  on  April  22,  1809. 

THE    FAMILY    MOVE   AGAIN. 

Our  family  continued  to  reside  on  that  farm  of  John  McClelland's 
until  April  i,  1800,  and  then  moved  about  half  a  mile  to  another  farm 
belonging  to  the  same  landlord,  but  not  so  large  a  farm,  the  rent  of 
which  had  to  be  paid  out  of  the  grain  raised  at  the  following  rates : 
Wheat,  3  bushels  to  the  acre;  rye,  4;  oats,  5  ;  and  corn,  5. 

This  rent  in  many  parts  of  the  State  of  Ohio  would  be  thought  very 
low ;  but  low  as  it  was,  the  tenants  were  unable  to  pay  it,  for  the  reason 
that  the  land  was  thin  and  gravelly,  and  old  and  worn  out,  so  that  it 
was  hard  to  make  it  produce  grain  of  any  kind,  except  rye,  oats  and 
buckwheat.  Wheat  and  corn  it  would  produce  if  well  manured  and 
well  worked.  The  first  summer  we  put  in  fourteen  acres  of  corn,  but 
the  summer  proving  dry,  we  had  but  about  seventy  bushels  on  the  field, 
and  that  barely  sufficient  to  pay  the  rent.  But  the  old  man  McClelland, 
being  of  a  kind  and  forbearing  disposition,  would  take  none  of  the 
corn,  but  agreed  to  take  the  rent  in  rails  and  stakes  made,  and  the 
fences  repaired. 

This  kept  the  boys  employed  and  from  eating  idle  bread.  Five 
shillings  per  hundred,  or  two  bushels  of  corn,  it  being  half  a  crown  per 
bushel  at  that  time,  was  all  the  landlord  would  allow  per  hundred  for 
making  and  placing  new  rails  in  the  ground  worm,  and  nothing  for 
putting  up  the  old  rails  on  the  new  worm  !  Too  hard  and  too  tough, — 
this  among  Christians ;  but  do  that  or  pay  the  money,  and  where  was 
the  money  to  come  from  ? 

At  this  time,  the  summer  of  1800,  the  boys  were  all  too  young  to 
earn  money.  William,  the  eldest,  was,  at  this  time,  fifteen  years  old  ; 
John  was  thirteen ;  I  was  eleven ;  and  Thomas  was  seven.  On  this 
farm  we  stayed  for  the  space  of  about  six  years, — came  on  the  28th  day 
of  May,  1799,  and  came  off  the  4th  of  April,  1805. 


48  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1805. 

SECTION    III. 

1805-1810. 
PIONEER  LIFE. 

IT  had  been  decided  to  remove  to  the  State  of  Ohio  in  company  with 
a  neighbor,  Thomas  Lawson,  who  had  sold  out  his  farm  and 
purchased  a  new  homestead  on  the  waters  of  Wheehng  Creek,  in 
Belmont  County,  Ohio.  He  was  now  about  to  move  to  his  new  home, 
and  had  provided  a  small  family  boat  for  the  purpose  to  pass  down  the 
Youghiogheny,  Monongahela,  and  Ohio  Rivers.  My  father  and  brother 
John  were  to  go  with  him  on  the  said  family  boat,  taking  with  them 
nearly  all  the  household  and  kitchen  goods  not  sold  at  vendue  the  fall 
before. 

They  went  on  board  the  boat  at  Connellsville,  but  the  water  in  the 
river  being  too  low  at  the  time  caused  a  delay  of  some  days.  At  length 
it  rained  some,  which  caused  a  small  rise  in  the  river,  of  which  they 
concluded  to  take  advantage.  Accordingly  they  shoved  off  and  pro- 
ceeded down  the  river  a  few  miles  to  the  big  falls,  where  the  boat 
grounded  and  stuck  fast,  and  there  the  boat  lay  for  three  weeks,  until 
it  rained  a  sufficient  quantity  to  raise  the  river  and  float  the  boat  off, 
after  which  they  passed  into  the  Monongahela,  and  thence  into  the 
Ohio,  and  in  due  time  they  landed  at  Warrenton,  at  the  mouth  of  Indian 
Short  Creek,  from  whence  the  goods  were  hauled  by  old  William 
Sharon  to  the  cabin  on  his  farm. 

As  my  father  and  brother  John  only  had  gone  in  the  boat,  the  other 
members  of  the  family  took  their  journey  to  the  State  of  Ohio  by  land. 

On  the  4th  day  of  April,  1805,  my  mother,  my  brothers  William  and 
Thomas,  and  myself  left  the  old  neighborhood  and  started  for  Ohio, 
taking  with  us  three  head  of  horses,  five  cattle,  some  bed-clothing  and 
wearing  apparel. 

We  were  escorted  some  distance,  on  our  way,  by  several  of  the 
neighbors,  and  also  by  my  uncle,  David  Cathcart,  who  proceeded  with 
us  as  far  as   four   miles  west   of  Plumpsock,  and   then   left   us,  but   not 


1805.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  49 

until  he  had  given  us  three  boys  a  good  lesson  of  advice  and  one  dollar 
in  silver  each.  The  first  day,  the  4th  of  April,  we  reached  three  miles 
west  of  Brownsville,  having  crossed  the  Monongahela  River  at  that 
place,  and  having  driven  the  five  head  of  cow-cattle.  One  of  the  horses 
my  mother  rode,  the  second  horse  carried  the  luggage  and  provisions, 
and  the  third  horse,  being  young,  one  of  the  boys  would  occasionally 
ride  upon  it. 

The  second  day  we  stopped  and  fed  at  noon  at  Nelly  Nail's  tavern, — 
sign,  a  large  wooden  ball,  —  one  mile  west  of  Hillsborough,  and  that 
night  we  stopped  five  miles  north  of  Washington,  on  the  road  towards 
Burgettstown. 

On  Saturday,  the  6th  of  April,  we  passed  through  Hickory,  Burgetts- 
town, Cross-roads  (now  Florence), — thence  west  to  the  farm-house  of  old 
Alexander  Conn, — the  farm  which  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  James 
Gardner. 

This  Alexander  Conn  v/as  married  to  a  full  cousin  of  my  mother, — 
his  wife  was  Mary,  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Gamble,  whose  sister,  Ann 
Gamble,  was  my  grandmother.  Here  we  remained  over  the  Sabbath, 
and  on  Monday,  the  8th,  we  proceeded  west  five  miles  to  the  Ohio 
River,  at  the  mouth  of  Harmon's  Creek,  and  thence  down  the  river,  on 
the  Virginia  side,  as  far  as  Charlestown  (now  Wellsburg),  where  we 
crossed  over  the  river  to  the  Ohio  side,  and  passed  on  down  the  river 
bottom  to  Warrenton.  Thence  we  proceeded  out  to  where  the  town 
of  Mt.  Pleasant  now  stands,  and  although  that  place  was  just  recently 
laid  out  as  a  town,  it  looked  like  no  town,  for  there  w^s  but  one  hewed 
log-house  then  built  and  occupied  as  a  dwelling,  which  was  owned  by 
old  Ben  Scott  and  kept  by  him  as  a  kind  of  tavern.  There  was  a  second 
hewed  log-house  put  up,  but  no  rafters  nor  roof  on  it  yet,  and  this 
house  was  in  course  of  erection  by  a  family  of  the  name  of  Guthrie,  and 
also*  intended  for  a  tavern  or  house  of  entertainment. 

THE   NEW   HOME   IN   OHIO   IN    1805. 

The  timber  was  cut  on  a  good  many  lots  in  this   newly  laid   out  town 

of  Mt.  Pleasant  and  the  brush  picked,  but  for  all   that  was  done  at  that 

time,  it  was,  to  all  appearances,  a   rough   place  for  a  town.     From  this 

place  we  proceeded  one  mile  south  of  the  town  to   William   Ferguson's, 

4 


50  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1805. 

where  we  arrived,  a  little  after  dark,  on  that  8th  day  of  April,  1805. 
This  William  Ferguson  was  a  full  cousin  of  my  mother, — his  mother 
was  a  sister  of  niy  grandfather,  Alexander  Cathcart.  This  farm  on 
which  William  Ferguson  then  resided,  and  which  he  owned,  is  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  Smiley  and  John  Sharon,  and  was  first  taken 
up  by  "  tomahawk  right,"  or  that  kind  of  improvement  made  which  was 
to  build  a  cabin  and  deaden  timber,  more  or  less,  adjoining  and  around 
the  cabin.  .,This  was  the  kind  of  improvement  made  by  the  said  William 
Ferguson  in  1783,  as  he  informed  me.  He  came  over  from  Ireland 
with  my  uncle,  David  Cathcart,  in  1772,  and  Ferguson  settled  first  in 
Sherman's  Valley,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  shortly  before  1783  he  removed 
to  Washington  County,  on  the  waters  of  Chartiers  Creek,  near  to  the 
town  of  Washington.  While  living  there  he  went  out  to  Ohio  and 
made  the  tomahawk  improvement  referred  to,  but  he  durst  not  move 
nor  attempt  to  make  any  further  improvements  until  after  Wayne's 
treaty  in  1794.  The  spring  of  1796  he  moved  his  family  across  to  the 
Ohio  side  of  the  river  and  rented  a  field  of  Zanes  Kimberly,  a  little 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Indian  Short  Creek,  where  he  remained  one 
year,  and  at  the  same  time  made  some  improvements  on  his  land  that 
he  had  taken  up  so  long  before,  and  to  this  place  he  moved  his  family 
the  spring  of  1797. 

Here,  at  William  Ferguson's,  we  stayed  one  full  week,  and  during  a 
part  of  this  time  my  brother  William  and  our  relative,  William  Fergu- 
son, were  out  looking  for  a  house  and  land  to  work. 

At  length  they  succeeded  in  renting  from  old  William  Sharon  a  cabin 
and  fifteen  acres  of  land  to  put  in  corn,  at  a  rent  of  one-third  to  the 
landlord, —  a  very  common  rent. 

THE    WILLIAM   SHARON    PLACE. 

We  removed  from  Ferguson's  to  this  cabin  of  Sharon's  on  Tuesday, 
the  i6th  of  April;  it  was  three  miles  from  Smithfield,  and  seven  from 
Warrenton  on  the  Ohio  River,  and  was  situated  on  the  ridge  between 
the  waters  of  Short  Creek  and  Rush  Run  When  the  family  arrived 
at  the  cabin  Thomas  was  sent  to  Sharon's  for  fire,  while  William  and 
Robert  fed  the  horses  and  cattle  and  prepared  wood,  and  soon  a  fire 
was  built  and  some   meat   fried,   the  bread   having  been  brought  from 


1805.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  51 

Ferguson's.  But  here  was  a  want  of  knives,  forks  and  plates,  but  the 
want  was  supphed,  as  the  boys  all  had  pocket-knives,  with  which  they 
sharpened  sticks  for  forks  and  also  served  to  cut  their  meat. 

The  next  day  Thomas  and  I  went  out  into  the  fifteen-acre  field  and 
began  to  clear  it  off  ready  for  corn,  while  William,  the  same  day,  crossed 
over  the  Ohio  River  to  Charlestown  (now  Wellsburg),  for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing  flaxseed  and  some  other  necessary  articles,  as  there  was 
no  flaxseed  to  be  found  nor  heard  of  on  the  Ohio  side. 

He  called  on  old  Alexander  Crawford,  an  old  neighbor  from  Fayette 
County,  but  got  none  there ;  he  then  called  on  a  number  of  other 
farmers,  but  with  no  better  success,  but,  at  length,  he  got  three  pecks 
of  seed  from  old  William  Dunlap,  the  father  of  Adam  Dunlap,  who 
died  not  many  years  since  in  the  town  of  Mount  Pleasant,  one  of  whose 
daughters,  Jane,  married  Cunningham  Kithcart,  in  1831.  My  brother 
William  brought  home  with  him  from  Wellsburg  three  fin-cups,  three 
plates,  three  case-knives  and  forks,  and  three  spoons,  which  he  had 
bought  for  use  at  meal  time,  not  knowing  when  my  father  and  John 
would  arrive  with  the  boat,  which,  as  before  stated,  contained  the  house- 
hold and  kitchen  furniture. 

ROBERT   ANDREW   AT  SIXTEEN. 

The  same  day  that  my  brother  William  went  over  into  Virginia  to  get 
flaxseed,  I  was  out  in  the  corn-field  gathering  limbs  and  chunks,  and 
the  day  being  somewhat  warm,  I  sat  down  under  the  shade  of  an  old 
dead  tree  to  rest,  as  I  thought  I  was  tired,  and  as  I  sat  there  musing,  and 
idling  away  my  time,  a  thought  struck  me :  Why  was  I  thus  idle  ?  and 
for  whom  was  I  working  when  I  did  work  ?  And  the  conclusion  was 
that,  in  the  long  run,  it  was  for  myself  Serious  reflections  at  sixteen 
then  came  into  my  mind,  for  I  was  now  nearly  that  old,  and  this  was 
the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  had  any  proper  and  right  con- 
sideration on  the  subject. 

So  up  I  got,  convinced  in  my  own  mind  that  I  was  working  for 
myself,  and  I  went  to  work  with  new  vigor,  and  never  afterward  did  I 
lounge  of  any  consequence,  until  I  got  to  milling,  which  proved  a  lazy, 
lounging  employment  in  dry  weather.  In  a  few  days  after  this  I  went 
to  Joseph  Steer's    mill   to   get  grinding   done,  and    I   went   in  company 


52  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1805. 

with  old  William  Sharon,  who  got  the  miller  to  weigh  him,  and  he  just 
balanced  three  fifty-sixes.  I  then  took  off  the  weights  and  I  just  bal- 
anced Sharon,  which  made  my  weight  to  be  a  full-grown  man's  weight, 
—  1 68  pounds, — and  I  not  quite  sixteen  years  old. 

In  a  day  or  two  after  this  my  father  and  John  landed  at  Warrenton, 
and  the  household  goods  and  three  barrels  of  flour,  a  barrel  of  corn- 
meal  and  our  stock  of  bacon  were  all  hauled  out,  and  thus  our  house 
was  furnished  in  some  order  to  what  it  had  been. 

We  now  went  to  farming  with  more  spirit  and  vigor,  and  sowed  three 
quarters  of  an  acre  of  flax,  and  planted  and  then  worked  in  time  and 
in  good  order  fourteen  acres  of  corn,  and  having  some  spare  time  we 
cleared  and  fenced  in  a  patch  for  potatoes  and  turnips,  both  of  which 
proved  good  and  abundant.  Besides  we  split  rails  and  fenced  in  an  acre 
of  stubble  ground  back  of  the  house  and  sowed  it  with  buckwheat  on 
the  20th  day  of  August  and  had  a  good  crop  notwithstanding  the  late 
sowing. 

RATTLESNAKES. 

One  day  in  June  that  summer,  as  I  was  plowing  corn  with  a  fine 
gentle-spirited  mare  of  English  breed,  and  had  nearly  finished  the  field, 
the  mare  all  at  once  stopped  short  in  the  corn  row,  and  would  advance 
no  farther ;  the  line  was  used  to  urge  her  onward,  but  she  would  not 
go,  but  flounced  from  side  to  side,  trampling  down  the  corn. 

At  length  I  thought  proper  to  pass  to  the  mare's  head  to  see  what 
was  wrong  with  her  that  made  her  so  stubborn,  and  behold !  there 
about  four  feet  from  the  mare's  head  lay  a  large  rattlesnake,  three  feet 
long  and  of  large  growth,  stretched  across  the  corn-row.  Thomas 
brought  the  hoe,  and  with  one  blow  the  head  was  struck  off",  and  the 
rattles  were  then  pulled  off"  and  counted  to  the  number  of  thirteen, 
which  made  this  rattlesnake  sixteen  years  old,  as  three  years  pass  over 
the  rattlesnake  without  any  other  sign  than  that  of  a  button  formed  at 
the  end  of  the  tail.  After  the  snake  was  removed  the  mare  went  on  as 
usual.  Five  years  afterwards,  while  our  family  resided  on  their  land  in 
Belmont  County,  I  one  day  rode  this  same  mare  to  mill  in  the  month 
of  June,  and  being  detained  late,  it  was  very  dark  before  I  arrived 
home. 


1805.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  53 

When  I  had  got  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  our  house,  the  mare 
stopped  short  in  the  road,  and  would  not  advance  one  foot,  and 
although  I  urged  her  with  a  switch,  it  was  all  of  no  avail.  A  thought 
struck  me  that  there  lay  a  rattlesnake  or  a  copperhead,  I  could  not  tell 
in  the  dark,  but  the  mare  either  saw  or  smelled  it,  and  I  concluded  to 
avoid  it,  and  by  turning  off  the  road  into  a  thicket  of  saplings  and 
brushwood,  I  came  into  the  road  again  and  arrived  home  without  any 
further  trouble. 

Before  harvest  this  ■  year  William  and  John  hewed  sleepers  and 
puncheons,  and  laid  a  barn-floor  for  Thomas  Burns  on  the  next  farm, 
which  brought  us  in  several  bushels  of  wheat  after  harvest. 

Harvest  this  year,  1805,  came  early  in  this  newly  improved  state  of 
Ohio, — none  so  early  afterwards  till  the  June  of  1822.  On  the  25th  day 
of  June,  1805,  my  brother  John  went  and  reaped  a  day  for  William 
Chambers,  who  then  farmed  the  Centreville  farm,  now  owned  by  Joseph 
MediU. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  the  same  year,  William  and  John  went  to  Fayette 
County,  Pa.,  where  they  arrived  on  the  loth,  and  after  William  had 
made  a  new  cradle  they  began  the  cutting  of  twenty-two  acres  of 
wheat  and  a  field  of  rye  which  had  been  sown  the  fall  before  the  family 
moved  to  Ohio.  It  was  on  the  12th  of  July  that  they  began  cutting 
grain,  and  it  was  the  last  of  July  before  they  got  through  cutting  and 
securing  our  crop,  and  also  that  of  Uncle  David  Cathcart. 

I  and  my  brother  Thomas  helped  to  cut  and  secure  old  William 
Sharon's  harvest  that  year,  and  I  cut  his  oats  with  a  new  cradle  which 
William  had  made  before  he  and  John  left  for  Fayette  County.  The 
day  I  cut  his  oats  Sharon  had  eight  or  nine  hands  cutting  wheat  in  a 
field  back  of  and  joining  our  cabin.  The  wheat  in  this  field  was  blue  stem, 
the  first  of  the  sort  I  had  seen,  and  as  the  ground  was  newly  cleared 
this  first  crop  lay  twisted  and  swirled  in  all  directions,  which  made  it 
hard  to  reap. 

The  afternoon  of  this  day  the  hands  in  the  field  became  suddenly 
alarmed  by  the  uncommon  screams  and  lengthy  jumps  of  one  in  their 
company,  John  Langly,  and  upon  ascertaining  the  cause  it  appeared 
that,  as  Langly  was  reaping,  a  large  rattlesnake  lay  in  his  "  through," 
and   unperceived   by  Langly   it  had   made  a  drive  at  his   foot  or  ankle 


54  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1S05. 

and  fastened  its  fangs,  not  in  his  flesh,  but  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  leg  of  his  trousers,  which  were  made  of  home-spun  cotton,  com- 
mon in  those  days.  Having  driven  its  fangs  through  the  cotton  cloth, 
owing  to  the  number  of  b'ttle  fine  beards  naturally  placed  along  the 
large  crooked  fangs  or  upper  jaw  teeth,  when  once  in  through  the 
cotton  it  could  not  extricate  itself,  and  hence  Langly  kept  dragging  it 
along,  and  all  that  the  snake  could  do  was  to  keep  up  a  kind  of  death 
song  by  aid  of  its  rattles.  Langly  said  afterwards  that  he  frequently 
heard  this  singing,  but  did  not  know  from  whence  it  came,  and  still  it 
kept  singing  along,  singing  along,  until  at  length,  as  he  looked  behind 
him,  there  close  to  his  heel  lay  his  singing  bird  in  the  form  of  a 
rattlesnake  nearly  three  feet  long.  To  get  clear  of  such  company  he 
gave  a  sudden  jump  of  nearly  a  rod  and  a  yell  or  two  of  fright  or  alarm, 
and  the  suddenness  of  the  jump  broke  the  hold  of  the  snake's  fangs 
on  the  cotton  and  left  it  an  easy  prey  to  the  reapers  who  soon  dis- 
patched him. 

ANOTHER   SNAKE   STORY. 

At  evening  tide,  when  the  reapers  came  in  to  supper,  after  Langly 
had  finished  telling  me  the  narrow  escape  he  had  made,  old  James 
Sharon,  the  grandfather  of  Smiley  and  John  Sharon,  observed  :  "  It  was 
a  merciful  interposition  of  Providence  in  Langly's  case,  as  it  was  once 
in  my  own  experience,  when  I  lived  near  Carlisle,  more  than  fifty  years 
ago.  I  took  a  hired  man  with  me  on  one  occasion  and  went  up  Sher- 
man's Valley  some  distance  to  take  up  land  by  making  a  '  tomahawk  ' 
improvement,  and  after  deadening  a  sufficient  number  of  trees,  and 
blazing  or  marking  the  bounds  of  my  land,  the  next  thing  was  to  cut 
saplings  and  build  a  cabin  according  to  law  and  the  custom  of  the  times. 
So  at  it  we  went,  on  the  bank  of  a  small  creek  or  large  run  which  made 
down  through  the  land,  and  the  first  stick  I  attempted  to  cut  down  was 
a  small  ash. 

"  After  chopping  at  it  for  a  little  space  I  looked  down  to  my  left  foot, 
which  was  farthest  from  the  tree  at  which  I  was  chopping,  and  there 
lay  coiled  round  that  left  foot  the  largest  rattlesnake  I  ever  saw  I 
made  one  sudden  spring  and  cleared  myself  of  the  snake  ;  this  done  I 
turned  and  killed  it,  and  counted  his  rattles  after  I    had  pulled  them  off 


1805.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  55 

and  found  twenty-one.  And  here  in  my  case  as  well  as  yours,  Langly, 
was  an  interposition  of  Providence,  or  I,  as  well  as  you,  would  surely 
have  been  bitten."  "  Nonsense,  nonsense,"  rejoined  one  of  the  reapers 
by  the  name  of  Vaughn  ;  "  it  is  nonsense  to  talk  of  the  intervention  of 
Providence  ;  Providence  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  snakes."  "  You're 
a  liar  and  an  ignorant  fool  too ;  you  know  nothing  about  the  matter,  and 
your  ignorance  is  not  excusable,"  said  the  old  man  Sharon,  and  he  then 
turned  into  the  house  and  sat  down. 

When  bed-time  came,  which  was  soon  after  this  conversation  took 
place,  the  old  man's  daughter-in-law  made  beds  on  the  floor  and  else- 
where for  all  the  hands  except  Vaughn,  and  as  he  was  a  stranger,  well- 
dressed  and  of  genteel  appearance,  she  allotted  him  to  sleep  with  the 
old  man,  and  told  him  of  the  arrangement.  "  No,"  said  the  old  man, 
"  he  shall  not  sleep  with  me  this  night,  and  no  other  man  that  does  not 
believe  in  an  overruling  Providence.  A  man  with  a  belief  like  that 
might  cut  my  throat  in  the  night,  and  believe  that  Providence  took  no 
notice  of  the  transaction,  so  you  may  put  him  where  you  please  ;  he 
shall  not  sleep  with  me."  And  so  the  matter  ended  by  the  daughter- 
in-law  having  to  make  a  bed  on  the  floor  for  Vaughn.  Thomas  and  I 
went  over  home  that  night,  but  when  we  returned  the  next  morning 
Mrs.  Sharon  told  us  the  circumstances  of  the  night  before. 

A   VISIT   FROM   Two   UNCLES. 

In  the  early  part  of  July  that  year  I  went  over  to  help  old  William 
Ferguson  for  a  week  to  cut  and  secure  his  wheat  crop,  and  left  Thomas 
at  home  to  see  to  father  and  mother.  While  I  was  employed  that  week 
at  William  Ferguson's  to  my  surprise,  it  being  unlocked  for,  here  came 
my  mother  and  her  two  brothers — Uncle  David  Cathcart,  from  Fayette 
County,  Pa.,  and  Uncle  Andrew  Cathcart,  from  the  township  of  Butter- 
nuts, Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  on  a  visit  to  their  cousin,  William  P'erguson, 
and  his  family. 

They  staid  but  one  night  at  Ferguson's,  and  the  next  day  after  dinner 
mother  and  her  two  brothers  left  for  our  home  on  Sharon's  farm,  and 
mother  not  being  well  acquainted  with  the  road,  kept  up  the  Dry  Fork 
of  Short  Creek,  past  the  turning  off  place,  and  she  and  her  two  brothers 
got  lost.     As   night  was  approaching  they  became  somewhat  alarmed, 


56  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1805. 

as  the  country  thereabouts  was  nothing  but  great  hills  and  great  hollows, 
and  at  that  time  but  few  settlers.  At  length  they  came  to  a  cabin  some 
considerable  distance  up  the  left  hand  Dry  Fork,  occupied  by  one 
Robert  McCain.  It  then  being  completely  dark  and  they  completely 
lost,  they  pressed  McCain  to  act  as  their  guide,  nor  would  they  let  him 
off  until  they  were  safe  arrived  home,  which  was  not  till  some  time 
after  night;  and  for  this  service  my  Uncle  Andrew  gave  him  fifty 
cents,  of  which  McCain  boasted  to  me  afterwards. 

A  boy's  ingenuity. 

During  that  fall  while  we  were  still  living  on  Sharon's  land,  my 
brother  Thomas,  who  was  at  that  time  only  twelve  and  a  half  years  old, 
conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  a  rude  kind  of  turning-lathe.  This  he 
did  by  placing  a  long  pole  horizontally,  the  small  end  of  which  he 
fastened  with  a  long,  strong  thong  of  well-dressed  buckskin.  He  had 
a  bench  with  two  upright  heads  ;  into  each  head  he  inserted  a  point, 
such  as  is  commonly  used  in  other  turning  lathes,  and  instead  of  a 
wheel,  he  wrapped  the  buckskin  thong  round  the  stick  of  timber  which 
was  to  be  turned.  To  the  lower  end  of  the  thong  a  flat  stick  was 
fastened  in  lieu  of  a  treadle-board  for  the  foot  to  operate  on.  This,  by 
treading  down,  brought  the  spring  pole  down,  which  turned  the  piece 
of  timber  with  a  quick  motion  round  against  the  gouge  or  chisel;  the 
foot  being  raised  let  the  spring-pole  back  to  its  place,  and  in  this  man- 
ner cheap  turning-lathes  were  generally  erected  west  of  the  mountains, 
and  thousands  of  split-bottomed  chairs  were  turned  off,  they  being  the 
only  chairs  commonly  used  for  the  first  fifty  years  am.ong  the  western 
settlers. 

Accordingly,  after  he  had  erected  his  lathe,  the  first  article  that 
Thomas  turned  on  it  was  a  beetle,  which  was  an  implement  in  early 
times  that  belonged,  and  might  be  found  in  almost  every  cabin  west  of 
the  mountains,  and  had  its  use,  but  is  now  laid  aside  generally  I  believe. 

The  next  article  which  Thomas  turned  was  a  mush-stick, — this  he 
also  presented  to  his  mother.  He  ne.xt  turned  heads  for  two  or  three 
broken  spools  belonging  to  his  mother's  little  spinning-wheel,  and 
after  that  he  got  to  making  new  spools  and  new  fliers  for  little  spinning- 
wheels  for  the  neighbors. 


1805.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  V.  57 


WILLIAM   SHARON   AS   A   LANDLORD. 

By  December  of  that  year  William  Sharon  notified  us  that  he  could 
not  give  us  land  on  his  farm  any  more  to  work  after  the  first  of  next 
April,  and  we  bargained  with  Richard  Hall  to  work  ten  acres  on  his 
farm  a  mile  distant,  to  which  we  were  to  move  the  spring  of  1806. 

During  that  season  we  had  done  considerable  work  for  our  landlord, 
for  which  we  were  paid  according  to  the  contract ;  we  hewed  and 
relaid  the  floor  with  puncheons  in  the  cabin,  and  built  the  chimney  with 
sticks  and  clay  from  the  crook-pole  above  the  roof;  we  cleared  and 
fenced  one  and  a  half  acres  for  potatoes  and  turnips ;  we  also  made  and 
put  up  350  new  rails  to  fence  off  an  acre  for  turnips;  we  built  a  snug 
stable  and  made  clap-boards  and  covered  it,  all  for  the  use  one  season. 

That  fall  season  of  1805  was  certainly  the  most  mild,  pleasant  and 
beautiful  fall  I  ever  remember  to  have  seen. 

In  the  latter  part  of  November  and  the  principal  part  of  December 
there  would  be  a  heavy  white  frost  in  the  morning ;  the  sun  would 
rise  clear  and  shine  all  day  comfortably  warm,  with  no  cloudy,  cool  and 
drizzling  weather,  and  it  proved  a  dry,  beautiful  Indian  summer. 

There  was,  however,  a  poor  chance  to  get  grinding  done  at  the 
water-mills,  but  a  fine  chance  for  the  horse-mills,  which  were  plenty 
all  abroad  in  the  land  at  this  time.  After  William  and  John  had 
finished  making  shingles,  and  had  done  some  other  carpenter  work, 
they  started  on  the  morning  of  December  23,  1805,  to  Fayette  County 
for  the  purpose  of  threshing  and  making  sale  of  the  crop  of  wheat 
and  rye  which  they  had   cut  and   secured  the    harvest  previous. 

The  threshing  had  to  be  performed  by  treading  the  grain  out  with 
horses,  and  they  spent  nearly  two  months  before  the  grain  was  got 
ready  for  market.  Our  share  of  the  wheat  was  eighty  bushels,  for 
which  they  got  one  dollar  per  bushel,  paid  in  silver  dollars,  as  there 
were  no  banks  in  those  days  west  of  the  mountains.  They  got  seventy- 
five  cents  a  bushel  for  the  rye,  and  all  together  they  brought  home 
over  5100. 


58  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1806. 


EARLY   METHODS   OF   EDUCATION. 

During  the  time  that  winter  that  William  and  John  were  away,  I  and 
Thomas  were  at  home,  and  during  the  hard  weather  had  little  to  do. 
But  our  work  was  to  chop  wood  and  keep  up  good  fires  in  the  cabin, 
so  as  to  keep  father  and  mother  and  ourselves  warm  and  comfortable, 
and  to  feed  the  small  amount  of  stock  we  then  had  on  hand. 

During  the  cold  weather  and  after  night  we  would  employ  ourselves 
in  studying  Reading,  Writing  and  Arithmetic,  which  was  an  improvement 
of  the  faculties  not  lost  on  us  in  after  years.  It  was  not  so  much  time 
idly  wasted  or  thrown  away,  as  many  do  in  idle  musings  or  vain  chit- 
chat, or  worse,  time  wasted  in  other  ways. 

I  remember  one  cold  day  I  was  busied  ciphering  over  sums  already 
worked  in  a  book  called  "The  Young  Man's  Best  Companion,"  pub- 
lished in  London,  when  in  came  old  Matthias  Conner,  and  as  he  was 
an  old  Irish  gchool-master,  he  asked  me  what  work  that  was,  and  I 
replied  that  it  was  Fisher's  "  Young  Man's  Best  Companion."  "  No 
such  thing,"  said  he  ;  "  it  is  the  young  man's  worst  companion,  and  you 
are  losing  your  time  with  it.  Throw  it  away  and  come  over  to  my 
house,  and  I'll  lend  you  Goff,  and  show  you  how  to  use  it,  and  if  you 
can  work  Goff,  you  can  work  any  other  Arithmetic  afterward."  I  took 
old  Connor's  advice,  and  went  over  and  borrowed  his  "  Goff"  and 
worked  it  to  the  Rule  of  Three,  and  never  to  this  day  regretted  the 
time  I  spent  at  it. 

MAKING    MAPLE    SUGAR. 

When  the  weather  was  moderate  during  that  winter  I  and  Thomas 
employed  ourselves  making  one  hundred  and  fifty  sugar  troughs  to  be 
used  in  a  new  sugar-camp  on  Benjamin  Brocaw's  land,  nearly  a  mile 
from  home,  on  the  farm  next  to  Sharon's  land.  We  were  to  have  the 
privilege  of  making  sugar  at  said  camp,  with  the  free  use  of  all  the 
fire-wood  needed  to  boil  down  the  sugar-water,  all  for  the  troughs. 
These  troughs  and  the  spiles  we  had  all  prepared  ready  to  tap  the 
trees  as  soon  as  the  sugar  season  should  come,  which  it  did  that  year 
about  the  1st  of  February.  We  tapped  loo  sugar  trees,  cut  wood, 
collected  the  sugar-water  and  boiled   it   down  to  a  strong  syrup ;  then 


1806.J  FAMILY  HISTORY.  59 

carried  it  home  and  mother  strained  it  and  clarified  it  with  eggs  and 
milk,  and  stirred  it  off. 

But  this  first  sugar  season  lasted  only  about  two  weeks,  during  which 
time  we  made  over  lOO  pounds.  The  weather  then  became  too  warm 
for  sugar  making,  and  was  so  mild  that  the  peach  trees  all  came  out  in 
bloom  by  the  20th  of  February ;  but  by  March  1st  it  turned  cold  again. 

After  the  winter  cleared  away,  a  second  sugar  season  came  on  which 
proved  to  be  better  than  the  first,  and  now  that  William  and  John  had 
arrived  home  from  Fayette  County  I  was  relieved  somewhat  from 
sugar-making, — a  work  which  I  did  not  like.  William  employed  him- 
self during  the  month  of  March  making  sleds  at  two  dollars  each,  and 
I  assisted  him,  as  there  was  a  great  demand  in  this  new  country  for 
them,  there  being  scarcely  any  such  thing  as  a  wagon  or  cart  to  be 
seen.  Old  William  Sharon  had  a  good  wagon,  and  except  his  I  knew 
of  no  other  for  five  miles  around,  but  sleds  were  all  the  go.  There 
were  no  such  things  as  sleighs  in  this  new  country  at  this  time,  and 
people  enjoyed  themselves  riding  upon  a  sled  to  meeting  on  a  good 
snow,  or  in  paying  visits, — more  so  than  they  now  can  do  on  the  most 
fashionable  sleigh. 

It  was  my  part  to  hunt  good  trees  to  form  the  runners  for  the  sleds ; 
to  cut  out  the  root,  and  cut  off  the  stock  eight  feet  from  the  place 
marked  for  the  roller. 

I  then  helped  William  to  split  the  stick ;  this  we  did  by  sawing  the 
root  down  to  the  straight  part  of  the  log ;  we  then  drove  in  wedges 
and  split  it  in  two.  William  then  scored  and  hewed  out  the  runners, 
and  put  all  the  parts  together,  while  I  went  and  looked  out  and  cut 
another  tree  suitable  for  runners. 

THE   C.\PTIN.\    F.\RM    PURCHASED. 

Some  time  in  March,  1806,  William  took  eighty  dollars  of  the  money 
he  got  for  the  wheat  and  rye  and  traveled  into  the  southwest  part  of 
Belmont  County  and  sought  out  a  quarter  section  of  land,  and  then 
went  to  the  Government  Land  Office  at  Marietta  and  entered  it. 

This  land  was  seven  miles  south  of  Morristown,  on  the  head  waters 
of  Captina  Creek,   fifteen  miles  a  little  south  of  west   of  St.    Clairsville, 


60  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1806. 

and  five  miles  east  of  Barnesville,  and  it  was  a  good  quarter  section 
of  land. 

It  was  the  N.  W.  quarter  of  Section  19,  Township  7  (Goshen)  and 
Range  5. 

The  entry  money  was  eighty  dollars ;  then  two  years  after  the  second 
instalment  of  eighty  dollars ;  the  third  year  the  third  instalment  of 
eighty  dollars ;  the  fourth  year  the  fourth  instalment  of  eighty  dollars, 
and  if  the  purchaser  could  not  complete  his  payments  in  four  years, 
the  Government  gave  a  fifth  year  of  indulgence.  Money  was  uncom- 
monly scarce  for  several  years  after  we  settled  in  Ohio,  even  up  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  in  18 12.  It  was  with  hard 
scraping  and  hard  living  and  hard  working,  and  with  the  strictest 
economy,  that  we  four  young  men  could  support  ourselves  with  rough 
wholesome  food  and  rough  homespun  clothes,  and  scrape  together  the 
eighty  dollars  for  the  second  payment  in  the  two  years  allowed  by  law. 
And  if  we  went  to  preaching  at  any  time  we  went  in  home-spun  clothes 
and  coarse  shoes  made  by  brother  John. 

William  was  treasurer  and  manager,  and  so  saving  was  he  of  all  cash 
he  could  scrape  together  for  making  the  payments  on  the  said  quarter 
section  of  land,  that  he  would  not  suffer  me  to  pay  out  a  si.xpence 
for  paper  to  improve  myself  in  writing,  which  was  a  miserable  scrawl 
at  that  time. 

CLOSE    CALCULATIONS. 

In  June,  1806,  I  was  sent  to  Fayette  County,  Pa  ,  to  my  Uncle  David 
Cathcart's  for  the  wool  off  some  sixteen  or  eighteen  sheep  left  there 
when  we  had  moved  the  year  before. 

William  made  a  neat  calculation  of  my  expenses  by  the  way  going 
and  coming;  so  much  for  crossing  the  Ohio  River  twice,  the  Monon- 
gahela  twice,  and  two  nights'  lodging,  one  going  and  one  coming.  In 
crossing  the  Ohio  River  I  had  to  pay  ferriage  both  ways,  but  not  so 
at  the  Monongahela ;  it  was  fordable,  and  I  risked  it  for  the  purpose 
of  saving  a  fip  going  and  the  same  coming,  which  was  the  lawful 
ferriage  at  that  time.  However,  in  the  course  of  a  year  the  law  allowed 
all  ferries  on  the  Monongahela  twelve  and  a  half  cents,  but  one  Kreps 
started  a  ferry  above  the  mouth  of  Dunlap's  Creek  in  opposition  to  old 


1806.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  61 

Gillespie's   ferry,  opposite  to  Brownsville,  which  brought   the   ferriage 
back  to  a  fip  for  man  and  horse. 

I  made  for  old  Shewster's  tavern,  six  miles  east  of  Washington,  both 
going  and  returning.  I  took  no  supper  at  the  tavern,  but  being  well 
supplied  with  cakes  in  my  saddle-bags,  I  ate  freely  of  them,  morning, 
noon  and  night,  before  I  stopped  at  the  tavern,  where  I  got  my  horse 
put  in  pasture  for  a  fip,  and  got  a  bed  for  myself  for  another  fip.  I 
had  besides  to  pay  for  a  gallon  of  oats  at  noon  for  the  horse.  By  this 
means  I  saved  about  fifty  cents  of  the  money  so  sparingly  issued  out 
for  my  expenses.  With  twenty-five  cents  I  purchased  a  quire  of  paper 
on  my  return  home  at  Fetter's  store  in  Charlestown  (now  Wellsburg). 
With  this  quire  of  paper  I  improved  my  handwriting,  and  transcribed 
"  Medical  Cures  "  from  a  work  by  John  Wesley,  which  he  had  written 
for  the  use  of  the  Methodist  Church,  called  "  Primitive  Physic."  I  also 
transcribed  a  number  of  scraps  of  poetry. 

THE   RICHARD   HALL   FARM. 

As  before  mentioned,  old  William  Sharon  had,  in  due  time,  given 
us  notice  that  we  could  have  no  land  to  work  the  summer  of  1806  on 
his  premises ;  we  therefore  had  to  look  out  some  place  to  go  to  by  the 
first  of  April. 

It  so  happened  that  Richard  Hall,  a  young  single  man  from  Balti- 
more County,  Md.,  had  come  out  the  fall  season  before,  and  was 
boarding  through  the  winter  at  Sharon's,  and  with  full  purpose  of 
having  a  quarter  of  land  improved  which  his  father  had  given  him  about 
a  mile  from  Sharon's,  and  two  miles  south  of  Smithfield.  For  that 
purpose  he  got  the  rough  hull  of  a  cabin  put  up  and  employed  a 
William  Milton  to  clear  ready  for  the  plow  ten  acres  of  new  land.  To 
this  new  farm  in  the  woods  Hall  invited  our  attention  by  offering  us 
pay  for  making  rails  to  fence  the  ten  acres.  Milton  was  to  clear  and 
we  were  to  work  the  ground,  and  give  him  the  one-third  of  the  corn 
and  grain  raised.  We  were  to  make  and  put  up  2200  rails  at  one 
dollar  per  hundred,  and  he  was  to  pay  us  cash. 

We  accordingly  acceded  to  his  proposals,  and  by  the  first  of  April, 
1806,  we  were  prepared  to  move. 


62  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1806. 

THOMAS   CUTS   HIS   FOOT. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  April  the  family  were  all  up  early 
to  make  preparations  to  move  to  Richard  Hall's  land.  Thomas  was 
sent  out  to  cut  some  wood  to  cook  the  breakfast,  and  while  he  was 
chopping  the  axe  touched  a  log  which  projected  from  the  chimney,  and 
glanced  off  and  struck  the  ankle-joint  of  his  left  foot  and  cut  it  half  off, 
which  caused  him  to  fall  to  the  ground  as  if  he  had  been  shot.  William 
was  standing  a  few  feet  nearer  him  than  I  was  and  immediately  picked 
him  up,  and  carried  him  into  the  house  and  laid  him  on  the  floor. 

I  noticed  as  William  carried  him  in  that  the  cut  foot  hung  straight 
down  in  a  line  parallel  with  the  leg,  all  the  front  leaders  being  cut  off. 
As  soon  as  William  laid  him  on  the  floor  he  placed  the  foot  in  its  right 
position,  taking  care  to  bring  the  edges  of  the  wound  as  close  together 
as  possible.  He  at  the  same  time  called  on  mother  to  give  him  a  large 
sized  needle  with  a  silk  thread  in  it ;  this  being  done,  he  closed  the 
wound  by  putting  four  or  five  stitches  in  the  skin,  taking  hold  on  either 
side  of  the  cut. 

Mother  by  this  time  had  a  sufficient  quantity  of  lint  scraped  with  a 
knife  from  some  part  of  an  old  linen  rag;  the  lint  she  wet  with  cam- 
phor and  laid  on  the  cut  and  then  laid  on  a  portion  of  wood  soot  mixed 
with  sugar. 

Thus  prepared,  William  then  bound  it  up,  taking  care  to  brace  the 
foot  with  bandages  so  as  to  keep  it  to  its  right  place.  Thomas  was 
then  lifted  and  laid  on  a  bed  with  a  pillow  under  his  foot  and  another 
under  his  leg. 

I  stood  and  looked  on  while  William  performed  the  surgical  operation 
and  dressed  and  bandaged  the  foot,  the  sight  of  which  made  me  very 
sick,  perhaps  as  much  so  as  Thomas  who  had  to  bear  the  pain.  Indeed 
he  bore  it  manfully  for  a  boy  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  but  it  is  said 
that  where  a  cut  or  wound  bleeds  freely  the  warm  blood  deadens  the 
pain,  and  his  cut  bled  freely  till  well  wrapped  up  with  cloths  and  band- 
ages. The  bed  on  which  Thomas  lay  was  lifted  with  him  on  it  and 
placed  on  a  sled  on  which  he  was  hauled  over  to  the  cabin  on  Hall's 
farm,  where  the  bed  was   carried  in  and  placed  on  a  bedstead. 

The  cut  was  washed  once  each   day,  and  a  poultice  of  slippery  elm 


1806.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  63 

bark  well  pounded,  and  for  a  short  time  soaked  in  cold  water,  was 
applied  twice  each  day  over  the  lint,  which  was  wet  each  dressing  with 
a  little  camphorated  spirits.  This  was  the  poultice  and  common  mode 
of  dressing  this  bad  cut,  which  was  thus  attended  to  for  the  space  of 
two  months ;  after  that  time  a  salve  was  used,  but  it  required  better 
than  three  months  before  Thomas  could  walk  about,  and  then  only  by 
the  use  of  crutches. 

I  remember  it  was  in  harvest,  in  the  month  of  July,  that  Thomas  was 
able  to  walk  about  a  little  with  his  crutches.  Although  the  cut  was 
such  a  bad  one,  yet  in  the  course  of  time  a  knotty  substance  grew  out 
of  and  over  the  cut  sinews,  leaders  or  ligaments,  which  connected  the 
foot  to  the  leg  at  the  ankle.  This  held  the  foot  firm  and  to  its  place, 
and  gave  strength  to  the  parts  so  that  in  the  course  of  a  year  Thomas 
could  walk  without  a  halt,  and  as  fast  as  ever  he  could  walk,  and  he 
could  endure  the  fatigue  of  walking  and  labor  without  feeling  any 
detriment  from  having  his  foot  almost  cut  off. 

MAKING     RAILS. 

After  moving  to  Hall's  farm  the  first  object  was  to  cut  and  split  rails 
sufficient  to  fence  in  the  ten  acres  of  new  ground  which  was  intended 
for  corn.  For  this  purpose  we  three  that  were  able  went  to  work. 
William  or  John  would  cut  down  a  white  or  black  oak,  and  each  cut  off 
a  log,  and  while  they  were  thus  employed  I  would  cut  down  a  tree, 
and  chop  a  log  half  or  whole  off,  according  as  the  tree  was  larger  or 
smaller.  This  much  being  done,  John  chopped  away  all  day,  and  Wil- 
liam and  I  went  into  splitting  rails,  and  daily  we  each  split  three  hundred 
rails  of  good  size  ;  and  John,  with  such  start  as  we  gave  him,  daily  kept 
us  in  rail-timber  ready  for  splitting. 

At  this  rate,  in  one  week  we  made  sufficient  rails  to  fence  the  ten 
acres  all  round,  and  some  rails  left. 

After  we  had  cut  and  secured  our  fifteen  acres  of  wheat  raised  on 
Sharon's  farm,  which  we  cut  and  stacked  without  the  use  of  whiskey,  a 
very  uncommon  performance  in  those  days,  except  amongst  the  Quakers 
and  an  odd  solitary  Methodist,  William  and  John  betook  themselves  to 
carpenter  work,  to  shingle  a  double  barn  for  Thomas  Fleming,  and  when 
that  was  done  they  had  to  split  and  hew  puncheons  and  relay  his  barn  floor. 


64  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1806. 

Richard  Hall,  who  owned  the  farm  on  which  we  had  moved  that 
spring,  took  boarding  in  our  family  from  the  time  we  moved,  the  first 
week  in  April,  till  the  November  following,  at  ^i  a  week.  He  was  a 
single  man  at  that  time,  and  did  not  marry  till  the  year  1812,  when  he 
married  a  girl  by  the  name  of  Gosagh,  of  respectable  family  in  Baltimore 
County,  Md.  He  undertook  to  clear  five  acres  of  new  land  that  we 
might  seed  it  with  wheat  in  the  fall,  but  he  was  so  lazy  and  indolent, 
and  so  little  accustomed  to  labor  that  he  worked  at  it  only  by  fits  and 
starts,  so  that  by  the  close  of  October  he  had  not  completed  the  five 
acres,  and  we  had  to  turn  in  and  finish  it  ready  for  the  plow.  We  had 
also  to  make  the  rails  and  put  them  up,  but  we  got  it  sown  with  wheat 
and  finished  it  the  28th  of  October. 

RICHARD   HALL  TAKES    FRENCH    LEAVE. 

In  the  early  part  of  November  that  year  Richard  Hall  left  us  without 
letting  us  know  he  was  going  away.  Some  relative  of  his  who  lived 
over  in  western  Virginia  had  a  boat  loaded  with  flour  and  other  pro- 
duce ready  for  a  trading  trip  to  New  Orleans.  Richard  thought  proper 
to  take  a  passage  for  New  Orleans,  and  from  thence  he  shipped  round 
to  Baltimore,  and  was  soon  at  his  father's,  who  lived  only  fifteen  miles 
out  from  that  city. 

Shortly  after  he  arrived  at  his  father's  he  wrote  to  us  giving  us  some 
account  of  his  tardy  passage  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans,  which 
took  thirty-nine  days.  This  letter  gave  us  the  first  intimation  of  where 
he  had  been,  or  where  he  was,  but  the  worst  of  it  was  no  money  in 
letter. 

This  money  we  had  earned  by  work  done  to  the  cabin,  to  provide 
floor,  roof,  chunking  and  daubing  the  same  before  it  was  fit  for  a  dwell- 
ing; also  the  work  performed  in  making  so  many  rails  and  putting 
them  up,  and  also  in  building  a  new  log  stable  and  erecting  a  threshing- 
floor.  Besides  all  this,  we  had  boarded  him  a  good  part  of  the  sum- 
mer, although  he  was  occasionally  away  for  two  or  three  days  at  a 
time,  and  his  excuse  at  such  times  was  that  he  was  out  on  courting 
excursions. 

In  his  letter  above-mentioned,  he  required  us  to  sell  his  corn  and 
give  him  credit,  as  by  the  contract  he  was  to  have  the  one-third  of  the 


1807.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  65 

corn  husked  and  delivered  to  him  at  the  heap,  and  one-third  of  the 
wheat  deHvered  in  the  shock,  which  was  a  very  common  way  of  renting 
land  in  those  early  days  all  abroad  in  the  settlements  west  of  the  moun- 
tains. We  felt  wrathy  and  very  much  disappointed  by  Dick's  conduct ; 
we  looked  for  the  money  according  to  his  promise,  which  he  made 
under  false  pretences,  for  he  told  us  that  his  father  was  to  send  him 
money ;  but  he  knew  at  the  time  he  made  the  promise  that  he  had  no 
money  coming  from  his  father.  And  yet  we  were  in  great  need  of  the 
money,  for  our  object  was  to  secure  as  much  as  would  pay  the  second 
instalment  on  our  land  at  Captina. 

Hall  further  wrote  to  us  to  clear  out  another  ten-acre  field  and  fence 
it,  and  he  would  pay  us  four  dollars  an  acre  for  clearing,  and  one  dollar 
per  hundred  for  making  rails  and  putting  them  up  around  said  field, 
and  that  he  would  be  out  in  the  spring  and  bring  us  the  money. 

But  the  spring  and  fall  of  1807  came,  and  no  Dick  and  no  money. 
But  he  wrote  again  in  the  fall  to  sell  his  share  of  the  wheat  and  corn, 
and  give  him  credit  for  the  money  so  obtained,  and  we  did  as  directed  ; 
but  the  sum  obtained  was  small,  as  his  share  of  the  crops  was  small, 
and  the  price  of  the  wheat  and  corn  so  small,  it  being  now  the  fall  sea- 
son of  1807,  right  under  the  pressure  of  the  Embargo  Act  of  Con- 
gress. 

When  the  winter  broke,  William  employed  himself  at  various  jobs  of 
carpenter  work,  for  which  he  sometimes  received  a  little  money,  but 
mostly  trade. 

John  and  Thomas  attended  to  making  sugar  as  long  as  the  season 
lasted,  which  in  most  cases  was  till  the  ist  of  April,  and  this  sugar 
season  of  1807  John  stirred  off  a  large  cake  of  sugar  the  9th  day  of 
April.  I  helped  sometimes  in  the  sugar-making,  but  did  not  like  the 
employment,  and  would  rather  do  any  other  kind  of  work. 

I  quit  it  before  the  season  was  out,  and  never  made  any  sugar  after- 
wards. I  went  to  chopping  and  splitting  rails  as  soon  as  the  snow  was 
gone,  and  could  make  one  hundred  and  fifty  rails  a  day.  I  then  girdled 
the  trees  and  chopped  off  the  old  logs  ready  for  rolling  on  the  ten  acres 
of  new  ground,  and  I  afterwards  grubbed  the  same  ten  acres  at  the  rate 
of  an  acre  each  day. 


G6  THE  SHERRARD  EAMILY.  [1807. 

AN   ATTACK  OF   INFLUENZA. 

About  the  first  of  June,  this  year  of  1807,  I  went  and  helped  Ren 
Stevens  to  finish  clearing  and  planting  a  piece  of  new  ground,  which 
took  me  three  days'  work,  and  the  last  day  I  nearly  gave  out.  I  felt 
weak  and  bad,  but  could  not  tell  what  ailed  me.  That  evening  I  went 
home,  and  the  next  day  I  had  head-ache  and  fever ;  and  as  I  was  not 
able  to  work,  I  was  sent  to  watch  the  birds  and  squirrels  off  the  corn, 
which  was  now  up  and  growing  in  our  new  field.  But  as  this  was  the 
season  for  the  squirrels  to  migrate  from  the  West  to  the  East,  they 
were  very  troublesome  on  our  corn,  and  destroyed  a  great  deal. 

But  I  felt  so  badly  for  two  or  three  days  that  I  did  not  bestir  myself 
around  the  field  enough  to  keep  the  squirrels  out.  I  found  out  after- 
wards what  ailed  me;  it  is  what  is  now  called  the  "Tyler  Grip,"  which 
is  no  other  than  a  bad  attack  of  the  influenza,  and  that  was  the  first  time 
I  ever  had  it.  Although  I  have  had  frequent  attacks  of  it  since,  one  of 
the  worst  was  in  January,  1826,  while  I  was  on  a  visit  to  my  Brother 
David's  in  Fayette  County,  Pa.  When  I  arrived  home  from  that  trip,  I 
found  my  family  and  Uncle  John's  all  well ;  but,  in  one  week  after  that, 
they  of  both  families  took  the  influenza,  and  had  a  very  severe  spell  of 
it  for  one  week;  only  my  mother  escaped  the  epidemic.  The  influenza 
of  that  January  of  1826  was  a  very  general  epidemic  complaint.  The 
newspapers  spoke  of  its  appearance  first  in  the  extreme  northeastern 
part  of  the  United  States,  and  in  a  few  weeks  it  had  reached  New 
Orleans,  in  the  extreme  Southwest.  In  many  instances  the  influenza  of 
that  period  proved  of  fatal  consequence  to  a  great  number  of  persons  of 
weakly  constitution ;  it  so  affected  the  system  as  to  bring  on  consump- 
tion, which  ended  their  days  in  one  or  two  years  at  most.  My  third 
attack  was  in  January,  1843,  when  I  sat  writing  that  day  all  day  in  the 
house,  as  it  was  a  day  not  fit  to  do  any  out-door  work.  It  stormed  and 
snowed  nearly  all  day,  and  I  felt  as  well  as  usual  till  after  twelve 
o'clock,  noon,  at  which  time  the  influenza  made  its  attack  on  me,  which 
altered  the  state  of  my  feelings  in  a  very  short  time,  and  it  held  its  grip 
on  my  system  for  three  weeks.  I  have  not  had  any  severe  attack  of 
influenza  since  the  one  just  mentioned,  although  sometimes  I  have  been 
slightly  affected  with  it. 


1800-1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  67 

But  I  can  assert  from  experience  that  if  any  person,  male  or  female, 
has  had  one  bad  attack  of  influenza,  they  may  rest  assured  that  they 
will  be  subject  to  its  attacks  frequently  through  life.  But,  before  closing 
these  remarks  on  the  subject,  I  would  record  the  fact  that  the  influenza 
of  January  15th,  1843,  was  general  all  over  the  United  States,  like  that 
of  January,  1826,  and  had  the  name  given  to  it  by  some  wag,  who 
called  it  the  "  Tyler  Grip,"  and  as  a  twit  on  John  Tyler,  who  was  then 
President.     (Much  like  "la  grippe"  this  winter  of  1889-90. — T.  J.  S.) 

The  next  year,  1808,  William  and  John,  with  my  assistance,  scored 
and  hewed  a  set  of  logs  for  a  double  barn  for  Robert  Greenlee,  and  also 
hewed  the  frame  timber  and  framed  the  same.  We  split  the  weather- 
boards and  shingles,  and  shaved  the  same,  and  drove  them  on,  so  as  to 
complete  the  building  of  a  house  a  story  and  a  half  high,  which  was 
twenty-four  by  thirty-two  feet  square,  for  old  James  Carr,  the  proprietor 
of  the  town  of  Smithfield,  for  the  sum  of  seventy-si.x  dollars,  one-half  in 
cash,  and  the  balance  in  trade. 

However,  I  did  not  work  any  at  this  last  job;  but  I  and  Thomas 
stayed  at  home  and  did  the  farming. 

EARLY   CHURCHES    IN   OHIO. 

The  first  pioneer  settlers  cared  nothing  about  a  preached  gospel,  had 
there  been  preaching  within  their  reach,  which  was  not  the  case  for 
some  few  years  after  Wayne's  Treaty  with  the  Indians  in  1794,  until  set- 
tlers of  a  better  order  came  in  among  them.  Their  Sabbaths  were 
mostly  spent  hunting  or  visiting  their  own  sort. 

Hence,  to  form  a  congregation  out  of  these  wild  pioneers,  was  out  of 
the  question,  until  they  moved  off  farther  West,  and  their  places  were 
filled  by  others  from  the  older  settlements,  who  cared  more  for  a 
preached  gospel  and  for  the  dispensation  of  its  ordinances. 

The  stream  of  emigration  into  Ohio  increased  very  rapidly  after  the 
opening  of  the  Land  Offices  in  1801,  and  from  1802,  particularly  in  Jef- 
ferson County,  it  now  became  necessary  to  form  congregations  and 
religious  societies,  the  material  to  compose  which  consisted  principally 
of  Presbyterians  and  Methodists.  For  although  there  was  considerable 
of  other  material,  at  the  same  time  it  was  not  of  the  right  sort  out  of 
which  to  form  religious  societies.     Such  material  consisted  of  a  remnant 


68  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1800-1810. 

of  the  old  pioneers  that  still  lingered  amongst  those  of  a  more  civilized 
and  religious  order,  and  these  pioneers  had  not  been  raised  up  to  any 
religious  worship;  and  although  many  of  them  would  attend  religious 
meetings,  yet  it  was  hard  to  bring  them  into  membership  in  any 
religious  society.  The  Presbyterians  who  first  settled  in  Jefferson 
County,  Ohio,  and  the  surrounding  border  counties,  were  principally 
from  the  four  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania, —  Fayette,  Washington, 
Westmoreland  and  Allegheny. 

A  few  Methodists  came  across  the  mountains  and  settled  in  Western 
Pennsylvania  as  early  as  1788;  but  at  the  time  of  the  first  settlement  of 
Eastern  Ohio,  the  Methodists  flocked  in  from  Maryland  and  Delaware, 
and  many  new  classes  were  formed  from  1800  and  onward,  and  many 
new  converts  were  made  and  taken  into  the  classes,  principally  from  the 
old  pioneers. 

The  Quakers  commenced  settlements  at  and  around  Mt.  Pleasant  and 
Smithfield  at  an  early  period, — some  few  in  1800,  and  onward.  Their' 
numbers  increased  rapidly  by  emigration  as  well  as  by  births ;  for  it 
must  be  kept  in  mind  that  all  the  Quaker  children  enjoy  the  right  of 
membership  by  birthright.  This  increase  continued  up  to  1826,  at 
which  time,  at  their  Yearly  Meeting  the  first  week  of  September  of  that 
year,  a  great  split  took  place  in  their  church  at  Mount  Pleasant,  and 
afterwards  in  all  other  places  where  the  Quakers  had  societies 
formed. 

The  one  party  styled  themselves  the  Orthodox,  and  the  other  was 
called  the  Hicksites.  And  I  would  just  now  observe  that  it  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  from  ever  that  split  took  place,  Quakerism  in  both  bodies 
declined,  and  is  now  far  from  being  in  that  flourishing  condition  it  was 
forty  or  fifty  years  since.  And  to  help  on  to  the  further  decline,  the 
Orthodox  Quakers,  at  their  Yearly  Meeting,  held  in  Mount  Pleasant  the 
first  week  in  September,  1857,  split  again,  each  party  taking  the  name  of 
their  leader — the  Gurneyites  and  the  Wilberites. 

PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  town  of  Steubenville  was  laid  out  in  February,  1797,  and  in  June, 
1799,  the  Rev.  James  Snodgrass  preached  to  the  people  of  Steubenville. 
The  P'irst  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville  was  organized  in    1801, 


1800-1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  G9 

and  the  first  place  of  preaching  was  the  Grove,  near  Wolcott's  factory. 
Mr.  Snodgrass  was  their  first  pastor. 

In  August,  1802,  the  Rev.  John  Rhea  came  over  from  Westmoreland 
County,  Pa.,  and  stopped  with  old  Mr.  Welsh  near  Beech  Spring,  and 
for  the  first  time  preached  to  the  early  settlers  of  that  place,  and  formed 
and  organized  the  churches  of  Beech  Spring  and  Crab  Apple.  He  be- 
came pastor  of  both  churches,  but  in  due  time  Beech  Spring  took  him 
for  his  whole  time  at  a  salary  of  $450,  and  he  was  content  to  take  that 
amount  up  to  the  time  he  gave  up  the  congregation,  as  old  age  set  in  on 
him.  It  may  hereafter  be  asked  how  Mr.  Rhea  could  raise  and  support 
a  large  family  on  so  small  a  salary,  and  the  answer  is  that  he  could  not 
have  done  it  but  he  had  in  addition  the  proceeds  of  a  fine  farm,  which  he 
had  purchased  at  a  cheap  rate  in  early  times.  And  then  his  wife  was 
such  an  economist  and  so  industrious  that  she,  although  a  very  homely 
woman,  was  a  fortune  to  the  man  who  obtained  her  in  marriage. 

In  1800  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson  took  charge  of  two  congregations, 
— the  one  at  or  near  St.  Clairsville,  and  the  other  a  newly-formed  con- 
gregation on  the  Little  Fork  of  Short  Creek,  two  or  three  miles  south- 
east of  Mount  Pleasant.  This  latter  congregation  convened  in  a  tent 
during  the  dry  summer  weather,  and  had  a  rough  log-house  for  winter 
and  rainy  weather.  I  have  seen  many  Presbyterian  meeting-houses 
which  had  been  constructed  in  early  times  west  of  the  mountains,  but 
the  one  above  mentioned  was  the  most  rough  and  poorly  constructed  I 
ever  saw. 

If  it  rained  it  would  do  for  the  congregation  to  retire  into  to  keep 
themselves  dry,  but  it  was  not  suited  to  have  preaching  in  in  the  cold 
winter  months,  as  it  had  no  fire-place  nor  stove  to  keep  the  people  warm. 

But  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  as  the  old  tent  and  the  old  meeting- 
house began  to  decay,  it  was  thought  best  not  to  rebuild  on  Little  Fork, 
and  it  was  agreed  to  remove  the  place  of  preaching  up  on  the  ridge,  a 
mile  nearer  to  Mount  Pleasant,  where  for  a  time  they  obtained  the  use  of 
the  Associate  Reformed  Meeting-house  ;  but  afterwards  the  congregation 
removed  the  place  of  worship  into  the  town  of  Mount  Pleasant,  and  after 
using  the  Seceder  Meeting-house  there  for  a  time,  they  succeeded  in 
building  a  substantial  brick  church. 


70  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [lSOO-1810. 


PSALM-SIXGING    BIGOTRY. 

I  cannot  help  noticing  a  little  incident  that  took  place  while  the  re- 
building of  their  church  was  in  progress ;  for  the  original  brick  church 
was  torn  down  in  1854  and  a  modern  church  erected.  The  trustees  ob- 
tained leave  of  the  two  only  remaining  members  of  that  once-flourishing 
Seceder  Church  to  hold  worship  there  until  their  own  would  be  com- 
pleted and  fit  for  use  ;  but  it  so  happened  that  they  had  worshipped  only 
two  Sabbaths  when  the  two  old  bigoted  Seceders  locked  up  the  meeting- 
house and  gave  notice  that  the  Presbyterians  could  not  have  the  use  of 
their  house  of  worship  any  more  unless  they  would  use  David'5  Psalms 
and  no  other,  for  they  considered  it  a  desecration  of  the  house  of  God  to 
have  Watts'  "  Psalms  and  Hymns  "  sung  in  it.  They  troubled  the  Se- 
ceder Meeting-house  no  more,  but  obtained  the  use  of  the  Protestant 
Methodist  Church  until  their  own  was  completed. 

THE     BAPTIST.S. 

About  the  close  of  last  century,  before  the  formation  of  the  Ohio 
State  Constitution,  a  small  colony  of  old  regular  Baptists  from  New 
Jersey  came  out  and  settled  between  Rush  Run  and  Short  Creek.  In 
due  time  they  built  a  suitable  house  of  worship  of  hewed  logs  and  a 
shingled  roof  They  had  brought  with  them  their  own  preacher  in  the 
person  of  Enoch  Martin,  a  man  much  beloved  and  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him,  but  after  his  death  in  a  few  years  the  congregation  never 
after  flourished. 

METHODISM. 

In  filling  up  the  space  between  Steubenville  and  Little  Short  Creek 
the  Methodists,  principally  from  Maryland  and  Delaware,  settled  on 
the  Warren  Ridge  and  along  the  hills  of  Rush  Run.  They  formed  a 
class  on  Warren  Ridge  under  the  direction  of  old  Samuel  Conaway  and 
Joshua  Howard,  and  by  the  year  1802  the  class  was  so  far  strengthened 
as  to  be  able  to  build  a  square  hewed  log  meeting-house,  and  that  place 
of  worship  was  called  Hopewell.  It  is  situated  on  the  ridge  between 
Rush  Run  and  Short  Creek,  and  but  little,  if  any,  over  three  miles  out 
west  from  the  Ohio    River.     It  is   about   fourteen   miles  from   Steuben- 


1800-1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  71 

ville,  and  in  a  direct  line  southwest  from  Steubenville  to  the  Presby- 
terian Meeting-house  on  Little  Short  Creek,  and  about  eight  miles 
from  the  last  named  place,  where  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson  first 
organized  a  Presbyterian  Church.  This  Hopewell  Church  was  in  its 
most  flourishing  condition  during  the  first  fifteen  or  twenty  years  of 
its  existence.  It  began  to  decline  from  a  variety  of  causes,  one  of  which 
was  the  forming  of  a  new  class  on  Rush  Run  by  one,  Charles  Lukins, 
a  weaver  by  trade  from  Maryland,  and  in  1822  his  class  built  a  meeting- 
house of  rough  hewed  logs,  and  called  it  Good  Intent.  It  was  too 
close  to  Hopewell,  being  not  over  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  but  for  awhile 
there  was  no  class  leader  to  keep  up  a  class  at  Hopewell. 

The  Methodists  of  that  day  did  not  consider  education  to  be  essential 
to  qualify  a  man  to  preach  the  gospel ;  they  said  if  he  was  converted 
and  called  to  preach,  he  would  and  could  preach  whether  educated 
or  not. 

But  a  great  change  has  taken  place  among  the  Methodists  in  that 
respect,  as  well  as  in  many  others,  such  as  the  improvement  of  the  voice 
by  the  study  of  vocal  music  and  the  practice  of  it, — in  the  introduction 
of  choirs  and  the  melodeon  in  some  of  the  churches,  and  there  has 
been  a  great  change  in  regard  to  their  dress.  Half  a  century  ago  the 
elderly  and  middle-aged  men  among  the  Methodists  all  wore  the  low- 
crowned  hat  with  a  broad  brim,  and  a  shad-bellied  coat,  much  after  the 
fashion  of  a  Quaker  coat,  and  their  women  wore  generally  a  long  scoop 
black  silk  bonnet,  plain,  without  any  gay  trimmings,  plain  dress  and 
no  ear-rings,  nor  any  kind  of  ornaments,  but  such  as  women  should 
wear  professing  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

RELIGION    AND   THE   CUT   OF    A    MAN'S   COAT. 

But  a  great  change  has  come  round  as  respects  the  dress  of  the 
Methodist  men  and  women  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  so  much 
so,  that  it  would  be  hard  at  this  time,  November  21,  i860,  to  distinguish 
a  Methodist  man  or  woman  from  those  of  any  other  denomination. 

At  the  time  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bascom  preached  on  the  Pittsburgh  circuit, 
in  1826,  he  had  previous  to  coming  on  that  circuit  adopted  the  straight 
coat,  which  was  then  all  the  fashion.  After  preaching  for  some  time 
in  Pittsburgh   he  became  a  very  popular  preacher,  and  it  so  happened 


72  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1800-1810. 

that  among  his  admirers  there  was  an  elderly  Methodist,  a  wealthy 
dry-goods  merchant,  who  had,  with  many  other  old  members,  long 
worn  the  old-fashioned  shad-bellied  coat.  This  old  merchant  brought 
his  tailor  to  his  store,  and  ordered  him  to  cut  off  as  much  from  the 
finest  piece  of  broad-cloth  as  would  make  a  neat,  first-rate  shad-bellied 
coat,  which  he  intended  to  make  a  present  of  to  preacher  Bascom, 
adding  that  he  did  not  believe  it  became  a  Methodist  preacher  to  wear 
such  a  fashionable  coat  as  Mr.  Bascom  did.  In  due  time  the  coat  was 
made  and  sent  home  to  the  merchant,  after  which  he  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  invite  preacher  Bascom  to  dine  with  him,  at  which  time  he 
handed  the  new  coat  to  Mr.  Bascom,  saying  that  it  was  a  present,  and 
that  he  wished  him  to  wear  it,  as  that  fashionable  coat  that  he  did  wear 
did  not  become  a  Methodist  preacher.  Mr.  Bascom  took  the  coat  in 
his  hand,  turned  it  and  looked  at  it,  and  handed  it  back,  barely  observ- 
ing that  HIS  RELIGION  DID  NOT   LIE    IN    THE    CUT    OF    HIS  COAT.       And  oh, 

how  true  !  Religion  ought  to  lie  somewhere  else  than  in  the  cut  of 
the  coat,  or  shape  of  the  bonnet,  or  the  singing  of  Rouse's  Version  of 
David's  Psalms,  or  the  signing  of  the  old  musty  Scotch  Covenant 
of  1688. 

SHOUTING    METHODISTS. 

Among  other  changes  among  the  Methodists  is  to  be  noticed  the 
fact  that  they  have,  in  a  great  measure,  left  off  shouting,  which  was  so 
common,  and  carried  on  to  a  ridiculous  extent  amongst  them  fifty 
years  ago. 

In  olden  times  scarcely  a  meeting  for  public  worship  could  be  held 
without  some  one,  and  that  one  generally  a  female,  who  would  start 
the  shouting  operation  going. 

And  as  if  by  some  sympathy  it  would  soon  .spread  from  one  to 
another,  until  it  would  soon  become  general,  especially  at  quarterly  and 
camp  meetings.  At  these  meetings  men  of  the  lower  order  would  take 
part  in  shouting,  and  I  have  observed  that  the  preachers  of  these  good 
old  times  understood  how  to  start  the  shouting  and  how  to  stop  it  at 
pleasure.  I  recollect  being  at  a  camp-meeting  held  by  the  Methodists 
the  19th  of  June,  1825,  about  eleven  miles  from  Circleville,  Ohio.  I 
arrived  on  the  ground  just  before  dinner,  and  after  dinner  the  horn  was 
blown  and  all   who  wished  to   hear  collected  in  front  of  the  preacher's 


1800-1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  73 

stand.  An  old  gray-headed  man,  long  in  the  service  of  the  Methodists, 
for  I  knew  him  in  1807,  when  he  rode  the  Cross  Creek  Circuit,  by  the 
name  of  Ellis,  presented  himself  on  the  stand  seated  on  a  chair,  from 
which  he  delivered  a  most  excellent  discourse.  But,  like  many  others, 
he  could  not  think  of  stopping  when  he  was  done,  but  rose  to  his  feet 
and  clapped  his  hands,  and  shouted,  and  said  that  some  people  said 
that  daddy  Ellis  could  not  preach,  but,  glory  to  God,  daddy  Ellis  can 
preach.  And  thus  he  went  on,  stepping  from  side  to  side  of  the  stand, 
clapping  his  hands,  talking  and  shouting  glory  to  God,  and  this  he  did 
some  time,  but  not  very  long,  for  he  soon  started  in  different  directions 
on  the  camp  ground,  both  men  and  women,  to  shout  aloud,  and  this  was 
continued  for  some  time,  until  Mr.  Jones,  the  Presiding  Elder,  thought 
it  prudent  to  put  a  stop  to  it  by  blowing  the  horn  that  he  might  preach 
to  the  people. 

It  took  but  a  blast  or  two  until  all  the  shouting  ceased,  and  Mr.  Jones 
had  peace  and  quiet  to  preach. 

This  and  many  other  instances  of  like  kind,  which  came  under  my 
notice  in  bygone  days,  convinced  me  that  the  preachers  could  start 
certain  peisons  to  shout  and  stop  it  at  pleasure. 

Thomas  Oliver  emigrated  from  County  Donegal,  Ireland,  and  settled 
on  the  head-waters  of  Rush  Run  the  spring  of  1806.  Although 
brought  up  a  Presbyterian,  he  found  that  the  nearest  place  of  Presby- 
terian preaching  was  at  Steubenville,  a  distance  of  ten  miles  on  the  one 
hand,  and  at  Beech  Spring,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles  on  the  other, 
and  to  the  Hopewell  Methodist  meeting-house,  on  Warren  Ridge,  was 
a  distance  of  five  miles.  Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Oliver  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  distance  to  either  of  these  places  was  too 
great  for  him  and  his  rising  family  to  attend.  He  therefore  opened  his 
house  eveiy  Sabbath  for  prayer-meetings,  and  he  soon  succeeded  in 
forming  a  Methodist  class,  of  which  he  became  the  class-leader.  In 
due  time  a  church  was  organized,  and  circuit  preachers  came  once  in 
every  two  weeks,  and  Thomas  Oliver's  house  soon  became  a  noted 
place  of  religious  worship.  This  continued  until  18 17,  when  the  society 
built  a  house  of  worship  of  hewed  logs  at  the  side  of  the  road  leading 
from  Sherrard's  Mill,  on  Rush  Run,  to  the  State  Road,  on  the  edge  of 
Thomas  Oliver's   land,   and    has  ever  since   been  known  by  the  name 


74  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1800-1810. 

of    Oliver's    meeting-house,    and    is    still     used    for     worship    by    the 
Methodists. 

ASSOCIATE    REFORMED   CHURCH. 

The  Rev.  James  Calderhead  emigrated  with  his  young  wife  from  Scot- 
land, and  as  early  as  1802  he  came  out  as  a  missionary  of  the  church  of 
his  choice,  the  Associate  Reformed,  known  in  that  day  as  the  Union 
body,  and  organized  the  Piney  Fork  Church,  four  miles  west  of  Smith- 
field. 

About  this  time  he  also  preached  over  on  what  was  called  the  Irish 
Ridge,  which  embraced  the  lands  from  the  junction  of  the  Little  Fork 
of  Short  Creek  with  the  main  stream  as  far  westward  as  Mount  Pleasant. 
He  also  preached  on  the  Scotch  Ridge,  which  took  its  name  at  the  first 
settlement  of  that  ridge  of  land  lying  between  the  Little  Fork  of  Short 
Creek  and  the  Ohio  River. 

At  length  he  succeeded  in  forming  a  small  congregation  on  Warren 
Ridge,  about  two  miles  east  of  Mount  Pleasant,  in  a  beautiful  piece  of 
woodland,  where  they  erected  a  tent  for  the  minister  to  preach  in. 
Afterwards  this  congregation  built  a  meeting-house  of  squared  logs  near 
the  tent  already  erected,  which  stood  about  eighty  rods  to  the  south  of 
the  road  leading  from  Warrenton  to  Mount  Pleasant.  For  several  years 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Calderhead  lived  in  a  log  cabin  situated  close  by  the 
meeting-house,  until  he  was  enabled  to  purchase  a  farm  between  Mount 
Pleasant  and  Wheeling,  and  on  that  farm  he  died,  after  he  had  preached 
for  several  years  to  this  congregation,  and  to  the  congregation  of  Piney 
Fork,  with  good  acceptance,  but  soon  after  that  that  church  declined. 

BIBLE     CHRISTIANS. 

The  Bible  Christians  took  their  rise  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  at  an 
early  period  of  Methodism  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  a  branch  or 
offshoot  of  the  Methodist  Church.  There  was  a  class  of  these  formed 
in  and  around  Smithfield,  under  the  labors  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Con- 
away.  He  had  been  a  leading  member  of  the  Hopewell  Church  till  the 
fall  of  1810,  when  he  seceded  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
became  a  Bible  Christian  and  a  circuit  elder.  The  impulse  given  to  the 
Bible  Christians  in  and  around  Smithfield  was  due  also  to  the  zeal  and 


1800-1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  75 

assiduity  and   untiring  labors  of  a  certain   Ezekiel   Parmer,  of  whom   I 
must  now  write  some  account. 

EARLY   SIXGING   SCHOOLS. 

Ezekiel  Parmer  was  born  and  raised  up  near  Canonsburg,  Washington 
County,  Pa.,  and  had  been  apprenticed  and  had  learned  the  trade  of 
making  small  and  large  spinning-wheels,  a  very  common  article  of 
household  furniture  in  those  days,  but  very  little  use  nowadays;  although 
while  I  am  now  writing,  January  ii,  1861,  my  wife  is  using  a  little 
spinning-wheel  doubling  and  twisting  stocking-yarn.  Besides  little 
wheel  making,  Parmer  took  up  another  trade — that  of  singing-master. 
He  had  a  good  voice  for  vocal  music,  which  he  had  improved  to  good 
purpose.  He  had  learned  under  the  old  "  round  note  "  system,  and  Ad- 
gate's  old  Vocal  Music  Book  and  the  tunes  contained  in  it  were  great 
favorites  with  Professor  Parmer. 

But  Smith  and  Little  about  the  year  1S03  invented  the  "  patent  notes," 
and  first  published  a  patent  note  singing-book  called  the  "  Easy  Instruc- 
tor." And  finding  such  a  vast  demand  for  this  new  and  easy  guide  to 
sing  by  notes  of  a  new  form,  and  patented,  they  were  induced  to  imme- 
diately follow  the  "  Easy  Instructor  "  by  a  still  larger  edition  containing 
more  new  and  old  tunes  not  published  in  the  first  edition.  This  second 
edition  was  called  Smith  and  Little's  "  Harmony,  or  Vocal  Music 
Book." 

These  new  music  books  were  published  by  the  thousands  and  spread 
over  the  United  States  broadcast  till  the  expiration  of  the  patent,  and  no 
doubt  made  the  patentees  rich.  After  the  patent  expired,  a  great  variety 
of  patent  note  books  were  published,  amongst  which  were  Lewis's 
"  Beauties  of  Harmony,"  and  the  "  Missouri  Harmony,"  and  these  stood 
the  highest  in  the  estimation  of  the  public,  and  had  vastly  the  greatest 
sale.  For  three  or  four  years  after  the  patent  notes  came  out,  Ezekiel 
Parmer  had  made  himself  acquainted  with  many  of  the  newer  tunes  con- 
tained in  the  new  patent  note  books,  so  that  by  1807  and  1808  Professor 
Parmer  opened  singing-schools  abroad  in  the  land.  He  opened  two  in 
the  bounds  of  Beech  Spring,  for  in  the  bounds  of  that  congregation  he 
settled  when  he  removed  from  near  Canonsburg.  He  opened  one  also 
on  the  Irish   Ridge  between  Mount  Pleasant  and  Warrenton,  and  also 


7G  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1800-1810. 

one  on  the  ridge  between  Warrenton  and  Smithfield,  the  same  ridge  on 
which  our  family  was  Hving  during  those  years. 

CH.\RLES  CONA way's   TRICKS. 

This  last-named  singing-school  on  Warren  Ridge  was  for  a  time  held 
in  the  Baptist  meeting-house,  and  no  doubt  would  have  continued  to  be 
held  there  but  for  the  mischievous  doings  and  influence  of  a  certain 
Charles  Conawayj  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Conaway.  But  after  the 
singing-school  was  discontinued  at  the  Baptist  meeting-house  it  was  con- 
tinued onward  to  the  end  of  the  term  at  private  houses.  This  Charles 
Conaway  seemed  to  take  a  pride  and  secret  delight  in  annoying  public 
or  private  gatherings  met  for  worship  or  for  improvement  in  vocal  music. 
And  to  aid  him  in  his  vicious  doings  he  had  under  his  training,  and  at 
his  call,  five  or  six  young  chaps  called  his  "'  chickens."  These  comrades 
were  with  him  the  night  he  was  turned  out  of  Parmer's  singing-school 
held  in  the  Baptist  church.  I  held  the  candle  and  opened  the  door,  and 
John  McElroy,  a  young  man  from  Warrenton,  put  him  out.  At  the  time 
he  made  the  disturbance  he  and  his  "  chickens  "  were  seated  on  a  bench 
immediately  behind  the  one  occupied  by  those  that  sang  bass.  I  and 
McElroy  rose  from  the  front  seat,  and  McElroy  reached  over  and 
gri[)ped  Conaway  by  the  collar  and  jerked  him  over  the  front  bench,  and 
landed  him  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  near  where  the  singing-master 
Parmer  stood. 

Parmer  was  so  displeased  with  Conaway's  conduct,  that,  without  a 
moment's  thought  perhaps,  he  struck  him  on  the  head  with  the  knuckle 
of  his  shut  fist,  but  the  ne.xt  moment  I  opened  the  door,  and  McElroy 
landed  him  out,  and  immediately  all  his  "  chickens  "  followed  him.  Soon 
after  this  Parmer  wished  me  to  go  out  and  see  that  our  horses  were  not 
turned  loose  or  injured,  and  when  I  went  out  I  found  Charles  and  his 
comrades  standing  talking  not  far  from  the  horses,  but  they  did  not  like 
to  disturb  the  horses,  not  knowing  to  whom  they  belonged. 

When  I  came  up  to  where  they  stood,  Charles  took  my  hand  and 
placed  it  on  a  lump  raised  on  the  top  of  his  head,  caused  from  the  blow 
by  Parmer's  knuckle,  and  the  lump  was  half  as  large  as  an  egg.  I 
seemed  to  sympathize  with  Conaway,  for  indeed  I  felt  hurt  at  the  hasty 
conduct  of  Parmer  in  striking  him,  as  there  was  no  need  of  his  interfer- 


1800-1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  77 

ence,  as  McElroy  was  amply  strong  and  able  to  put  Conaway  out  or  do 
with  him  as  he  pleased. 

DISTURBING   A   RELIGIOUS   MEETING. 

But  some  time  before  this  affair  at  the  singing-school  at  the  Baptist 
meeting-house,  Charles  Conaway,  with  his  "  chickens,"  was  guilty  of  a 
worse  trick.  This  was  played  off  at  the  house  of  old  Joshua  Howard, 
who,  with  his  wife  and  some  of  his  family,  belonged  to  the  Hopewell 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Old  Samuel  Conaway  at  this  time  and  for 
some  years  afterward  belonged  also  to  the  same  class,  and  it  came  to 
pass  in  these  good  old  times  that  the  said  Samuel  Conaway,  father  of 
the  said  Charles  Conaway,  had  a  prayer-meeting  appointed  on  a  certain 
Sabbath,  in  the  absence  of  the  circuit  or  local  preacher,  at  the  cabin  of 
Joshua  Howard.  At  this  place  of  meeting  Charles  Conaway  and  his 
followers  were  collected,  not  to  be  benefited  by  any  religious  exercises, 
but  rather  to  see  if  they  could  gratify  their  innate  desire  to  do  wrong 
rather  than  right.  They  came  after  the  meeting  had  begun,  and  did  not 
go  in,  but  seeing  a  hasp  in  the  door  and  a  steeple  in  the  door-cheek, 
Charles  put  the  hasp  on  the  steeple  and  a  stick  through  to  keep  it  there. 
He  then  climbed  up  on  the  roof  and  laid  loose  clapboards  on  the  top  of 
the  chimney,  which  soon  turned  the  smoke  down  into  the  house,  which 
had  a  disagreeable  effect  on  the  class  in  the  house.  Charles  and  his 
comrades  then  went  into  the  other  part  of  the  house  and  demanded 
something  to  eat  of  an  old  negro  woman,  Dinah,  who  gave  them  some 
hominy,  and  after  they  had  eaten  as  much  as  they  wished,  they  cleared 
out  and  left  old  Dinah  to  unfasten  the  door  and  let  the  sufferers  out. 
However,  when  those  in  the  house  began  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  smoke, 
old  Mr.  Conaway  stepped  to  the  door  and  made  an  effort  to  open  it,  but 
did  not  succeed,  and  this  made  him  exclaim  :  "  Now  who  has  done  this  ? 
It  is  certainly  one  of  the  devil's  own  children  " — not  knowing  that  his 
own  son  was  about,  or  that  he  had  done  it,  for  when  he  had  left  home  he 
had  left  his  son  there,  who  did  not  seem  to  have  any  desire  to  go  to  the 
prayer-meeting 

CONDUCTING   A  SINGING-SCHOOL. 

Professor  Parmer,  at  the  time  he  taught  singing-school,  in  1807-8, 
belonged  in  full  membership  and  communion  in  the  Beech  Spring  Pres- 


78  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1809. 

byterian  Cluirch,  under  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  John  Rhea,  D.D.  He 
always  closed  his  singing-schools  with  prayer,  and  he  would  order  some 
fugue  tune  to  be  sung,  such  as  "  America  "  (short  metre),  "  Bridgewater," 
"  Lenox,"  "  Russia  "  or  "  Sutton  ;  "  and  as  the  bass  started  at  the  repeat, 
they  of  that  part  rose  to  their  feet,  and  so  of  the  tenor  and  treble,  after 
which  he  prayed  appropriately  and  dismissed. 

In  1809  or  1 8 10  Professor  Parmer  left  Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  and  re- 
moved to  the  State  of  Kentucky,  that  he  might  better  his  condition, 
where,  after  some  time,  for  reasons  best  known  to  himself,  he  joined  the 
Society  of  the  Bible  Christians,  and  after  exercising  his  gifts  by  exhort- 
ing for  a  short  time,  he  was  licensed  to  preach.  He  afterwards  moved 
back  into  Ohio  and  settled  in  the  Miami  country  and  preached  round 
about,  and  after  the  lapse  of  ten  or  twelve  years  he  returned  and  settled 
in  Smithfield,  in  the  old  neighborhood  where  he  had  taught  singing- 
school  ;  then  in  a  year  or  two  he  left,  and  I  never  heard  of  him. 

OLD   CENTRE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Some  time  in  the  fall  season  of  1809  I  heard  that  the  Rev.  Abram 
Scott  would  preach  on  the  Sabbath  ensuing  at  a  place  designated  near 
the  road  leading  from  Wellsburg  to  Smithfield,  a  little  west  of  the  farm 
of  John  Armstrong.  Our  family  at  that  time  lived  two  miles  south  of 
Smithfield,  and  I  therefore  had  to  ride  six  miles  to  the  place  where  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Scott  was  to  preach. 

But  the  distance  was  no  obstacle  in  the  way,  for  I  had  been  accus- 
tomed for  four  years  previous  to  ride  nine  miles  to  the  Presbyterian 
meeting-house  and  tent  on  the  Little  Fork  of  Short  Creek,  at  which 
place  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson  preached  the  one-fourth  of  his  time. 

The  Sabbath  having  arrived  on  which  Mr.  Scott  was  to  preach,  the 
weather  being  pleasant  and  the  roads  good,  I  left  home  in  time  to  call 
on  a  Presbyterian  family  residing  at  that  time  in  Smithfield  by  the  name 
of  Chambers,  and  prevailed  on  the  youngest  of  the  two  brothers,  James, 
to  accompany  me.  Arrived  at  the  place  appointed,  we  found  it  to  be 
a  rising  piece  of  ground  near  the  public  road  designated.  It  was  a  place 
beautifully  shaded  at  that  time  with  a  thick  grove  of  forest  trees,  all  of 
which  have  been  felled  by  the  woodman's  axe  long  since,  and  scarce  a 
stump   now  tells  where  they  were.     And  O  !   what  a  change   has  passed 


1809.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  79 

over  mankind,  and  many  other  forests  as  well  as  this,  in  almost  fifty 
years  since  that  sermon  was  preached. at  the  root  of  a  large  green  chest- 
nut tree  by  the  Rev.  Abram  Scott. 

When  I  and  James  Chambers  arrived  we  foimd  the  preacher  seated  at 
the  root  of  that  tree  waiting  the  coming  in  of  the  people  of  the  sur- 
rounding country.  The  discourse  on  the  occasion  was  a  good,  practical 
one,  and  well  suited  to  feed  the  hungry  minds  of  his  hearers. 

Mr.  Scott  had  permission  to  preach  for  the  Centre  congregation  dur- 
ing that  season  of  1809,  which  he  had  received  from  the  Ohio  Presby- 
tery, and  those  services  held  by  him  was  the  beginning  of  the  Old  Cen- 
tre congregation  of  the  Presbyterians,  so  called  because  it  was  half-way 
between  Steubenville  and  Beech  Spring,  and  was  neutral  ground  be- 
tween Rev.  Mr.  Snodgrass  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rhea  on  the 
other.  Sometimes  the  one  and  sometimes  the  other  would  come  by  in- 
vitation and  preach  at  the  house  of  old  Archibald  Armstrong,  as  he  and 
his  wife  were  both  old  and  infirm.  I  one  heard  the  Rev.  Mr.  Snodgrass 
preach  there  a  year  or  two  before  Mr.  Scott  came  to  preach  at  Centre. 

THE   REVEREND   ABRAM   SCOTT. 

The  Records  of  the  Ohio  Presbytery  show  that  at  a  meeting  held  at 
West  Liberty,  October  17,  1809,  a  call  from  Centre  congregation  for  the 
Rev.  Abram  Scott  for  one-half  of  his  time  was  placed  in  his  hands  and 
accepted  by  him. 

Mr.  Scott  was  born  in  Chester  County,  Pa.,  about  the  year  1765,  and 
while  he  was  yet  a  small  boy  his  father  moved  out  over  the  mountains 
and  settled  near  Canonsburg,  which  was  then  the  very  centre  of  Char- 
tiers  congregation  to  which  the  Rev.  John  McMillan  ministered,. and 
Mr.  Scott's  father  became  an  Elder  in  that  church.  Abram  Scott  was 
one  of  the  first  students  of  the  new  Academy  of  Dr.  McMillan  at  Can- 
onsburg, which  first  went  Into  operation  1793. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio  June  25,  1806, 
and  again,  he  was  ordained  by  the  same  Presbytery  at  a  meeting  held  at 
Chartiers  July  12,  1808. 

He  accepted  a  call  from  two  new  congregations  in  Mercer  County, 
Pa.,  at  a  promised  salary  of  $200  yearly  from  each  of  the  congregations 
in  cash,  but  they  were  unable  to   pay  it,  on  account  of  the  Embargo  act 


80  THE  SHERRARD  EAM/LV.  [1809. 

of  1808,  which  brought  on  very  hard  times,  such  as  have  never  been 
experienced  since,  except  once — the  fall  of  1820  and  the  winter  and  sum- 
mer of  1 82 1.  Mr.  Scott  therefore  accepted  the  call  to  Centre  and 
moved  there  the  fall  of  1809. 

The  congregation  of  Centre  was  not  fully  organized  till  the  latter  part 
of  April,  1 8 10,  when  John  Hindman  and  John  Jackson  were  unani- 
mously and  without  one  dissenting  voice  elected  Elders  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  the  next  Sabbath  they  were  ordained  the  first  Elders  of 
Centre. 

DEATH   OF  JOHN  SHERRARD. 

The  spring  of  1809  William  and  John  worked  at  carpenter  work  for 
old  William  Wood,  on  his  farm  near  Smithfield,  the  same  on  which 
Thomas  Wood  now  resides  (December  17,  1852).  On  Friday  morning, 
the  2 1st  day  of  April,  1809,  I  and  Thomas  rose  early,  and  Thomas  was 
left  to  feed  the  stock  while  I  went  to  the  second  ten-acre  field,  next  to 
William  Kirk's  land,  to  chop  or  log  off  fallen  timber  to  prepare  for 
plowing  for  corn.  But  I  had  been  out  only  a  short  time  when  Thomas 
came  to  me  with  orders  from  mother  to  go  to  the  house,  for  father  was 
taken  very  sick.  When  I  arrived  at  the  house  I  found  father  in  bed,  but 
he  said  he  felt  much  better,  and  in  the  course  of  half  an  hour  he  got  up 
and  dressed  himself  as  usual,  but  would  eat  nothing  all  day.  On  bemg 
urged  by  mother  to  eat,  his  only  reply  was  that  he  had  no  appetite,  and 
that  he  hoped  he  would  be  better  in  a  day  or  two. 

In  the  evening  of  this  day  William  and  John  came  home,  and  by  nine 
o'clock  we  all  retired  to  bed,  and  we,  the  younger  members  of  the 
family,  not  apprehending  any  danger,  were  soon  sound  asleep.  Not  so 
with  mother,  for  she  did  apprehend  danger  from  what  had  taken  place 
in  the  morning,  and  she  did  not  fall  asleep  as  we  did.  By  ten  o'clock 
father  became  uncommonly  sick,  and  mother  called  me,  knowing  that  I, 
from  infancy,  was,  of  all  the  boys,  the  most  easily  awaked.  I  was  up  at 
the  first  call,  and  had  a  candle  lit  in  an  instant,  and  passed  on  to  the 
bedside  where  father  was  standing,  and  so  sick  that  great  drops  of  sweat 
stood  on  his  forehead. 

From  the  way  that  he  was  affected  it  was  evident  that  there  had  been 
a  blood-vessel  burst  in  his  stomach,  for  the  blood  flowed  at  different 
times  until  three  o'clock  the  next  morning  (Saturday).     But  with  all  the 


1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  81 

loss  of  blood  he  lived  and  breathed  and  was  sensible,  and  was  able  to 
converse  with  neighbors  who  came  in,  and  he  had  been  speaking  one 
minute  before  he  breathed  his  last,  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
Saturday,  April  22,  1809. 

He  was  buried  the  next  day  (Sabbath)  in  the  old  Quaker  graveyard 
in  the  west  end  of  Smithfield. — (It  appears  that  no  stone  ever  marked 
his  grave.  A  few  years  before  father's  death  he  and  my  brother  Robert 
went  to  that  old  graveyard,  but  were  entirely  unable  to  identify  the  spot 
where  grandfather  Sherrard  was  buried. — T.  J.  S.) 


S  ECTIO  N      IV. 

1810-1811. 
CAPTINA  EXPERIENCES. 

BUT  little  of  note  transpired  during  this  year  after  the  death  of  my 
father.  There  was  a  family  named  Edwards  that  lived  on  part 
of  the  Hall  farm  below  us,  consisting  of  Henry  Edwards,  his 
wife,  nine  girls  and  two  small  boys.  I  worked  for  Edwards  that  sum- 
mer, chopping  fallen  timber  on  ten  acres  of  ground,  and  helping  to  roll 
logs  and  burn  them.  During  the  forepart  of  this  summer  William  and 
John  worked  at  carpenter  worjc  for  Benjamin  Ladd,  near  Smithfield,  and 
after  harvest,  on  the  recommendation  of  old  William  Wood,  they  got 
work  for  three  months  with  an  old  English  Quaker  by  the  name  of 
Witchel,  who  came  from  London  and  was  settled  on  a  farm  one  mile 
west  of  St.  Clairsville. 

During  that  fall  I  and  Thomas  worked  the  farm  at  home,  and  Thomas 
became  very  expert  in  tracing  bees  and  finding  bee-trees,  which  often 
gave  us  a  good  stock  of  honey.  However,  in  August  of  that  year, 
1809,  before  William  and  John  went  over  to  Witchel's,  they  started  to 
our  new  farm  in  Belmont  County,  to  make  some  improvements  ready 
for  us  to  move  there  the  next  spring,  and  they  took  me  along  to  help 
6 


82  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1810. 

them,  and  also  Ben  Tingly  as  a  work-hand.  Thomas  also  went  along 
to  bring  back  the  horses,  and  he  was  to  stay  at  home  with  mother  to 
be  company  for  her;  and  after  three  weeks  he  was  to  return  to  Belmont 
County  for  us.  The  first  thing  we  did  was  to  cut  small  logs  of  the 
quaking-asp,  and  with  these  we  built  a  small  cabin  seventeen  feet 
square.  We  then  set  in  to  chopping,  grubbing  and  picking  and  burn- 
ing brush  ;  as  to  logs  or  standing  trees,  there  were  but  few  on  the  three 
acres  we  cleared  and  fenced  during  those  three  weeks  that  we  worked. 
A  part  of  this  quarter  section  showed  evident  signs  of  its  having  been 
visited  by  a  tornado  some  forty  or  fifty  years  before,  for  there  was  a  new 
grovt'th  of  saplings  on  it. 

We  employed  old  Jesse  White,  one  of  the  neighbors  living  near  to 
that  Captina  farm,  to  find  seed  wheat  and  plow  and  sow  the  three  acres 
we  had  cleared  and  fenced. 

The  clearing  and  fencing  and  building  the  cabin  might  be  calculated 
at  a  cost  of  at  least  fifty  dollars. 

MOVING   TO   CAPTINA. 

The  winter  passed  away,  and  the  spring  came  round  ;  but  we  did  not 
get  started  to  move  till  the  24th  of  April. 

We  employed  Henry  Edwards,  who  had  a  good  team  and  large 
wagon-bed,  to  haul  the  household  goods  ;  but  we  took  no  chairs  nor 
bedsteads,  nor  any  lumber  we  could  make  or  supply  when  we  got  there, 
and  yet  the  large  English  wagon-bed  was  filled  top-full.  Although  the 
distance  was  not  over  twenty-eight  miles,  it  took  two  days  to  move. 
On  the  26th  of  April  we  commenced  to  clear  for  corn,  and  by  dint  of 
hard  grubbing  with  the  hoe  and  chopping  with  the  axe,  we  had  five 
acres  ploughed  and  planted  on  the  26th  of  May,  and  by  the  3rd  of  June 
we  planted  four  acres  more. 

We  then  turned  in  and  cleared  one  and  one-half  acres  for  potatoes  and 
turnips,  and  after  planting  the  potatoes  we  continued  clearing  till  we  had 
three  acres  more  cleared,  and  this  we  sowed  in  timothy  for  meadow. 
In  the  course  of  our  clearing  up  our  land  we  killed  a  great  number  of 
snakes — copperheads  and  rattlesnakes. 


1810.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  83 

SCARCITY   OF    SALT. 

At  that  time  salt  was  very  scarce  and  high,  so  much  so  that  it  sold  for 
$6  to  $8  a  barrel  of  280  pounds,  and  higher,  in  proportion,  when  retailed 
by  the  bushel,  which  was  generally  by  weight  of  fifty  pounds  to  the 
bushel,  but  the  most  common  standard  was  fifty-six  pounds  to  the 
bushels. 

In  consequence  of  the  high  price  of  salt,  horses  and  cows  did  not  get 
it  in  such  portions  as  they  needed,  and  hence  the  cows  would  seek  out 
the  salt  licks,  or  deer  licks,  as  they  were  called  by  the  old  hunters,  and 
the  cows  would  always  wander  off  from  home  to  the  best  lick. 

Our  cows  soon  found  their  way  to  a  lick  about  three  miles  from  home 
to  which  they  went  daily,  and  Thomas  had  to  start  about  an  hour  before 
sunset  every  evening  during  the  summer  and  fall  months  and  bring 
home  the  cows  to  be  milked,  and  this  was  a  severe  drudgery  on  him. 

Our  horses  and  sheep,  as  well  as  the  cows,  had  to  run  in  the  woods 
during  the  two  summer  seasons  that  we  lived  at  Captina,  but  I  never 
knew  the  horses  and  sheep  to  go  to  the  salt  licks.  We  had  brought 
with  us  twenty  head  of  sheep,  but  we  were  in  continual  dread  of  their 
being  killed  by  the  wolves,  which  were  uncommonly  plenty  in  that  new 
country,  and  yet,  during  the  two  seasons  we  were  there,  we  had  but  one 
sheep  killed  by  the  wolves,  and  that  was  in  open  daylight,  the  first 
summer  of  iSio. 

After  we  had  planted  the  corn  and  potatoes,  we  grubbed  six  acres 
more  to  be  cleared  up  and  put  in  wheat,  and  then  William  and  John 
went  to  Witchel's  and  worked  at  carpenter  work  nearly  all  the  time  till 
December,  1810. 

WOLVES   VERY   NUMEROUS. 

One  night  the  first  summer  we  had  the  sheep  folded  in  a  pen  covered 
with  poles,  and  this  was  about  two  rods  from  the  door  of  our  cabin. 
We  had  just  gone  to  bed,  when  the  dogs  all  at  once  made  a  dreadful 
fuss,  barking  close  to  the  door.  I  got  up  and  opened  the  door  and 
hissed  the  dogs,  when  down  jumped  something  from  the  sheep-pen 
which  I  supposed  was  a  wolf,  as  it  was  so  dark  I  could  see  nothing,  but 
I  could  hear  the  poles  rattle. 


84  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1810. 

I  hissed  and  encouraged  the  dogs,  and  they  immediately  crossed  the 
brush  fence  a  Httle  beyond  the  sheep-pen  ;  I  passed  around  the  brush  in 
the  inside  of  the  adjoining  field,  and  stood  on  the  inside  of  the  fence, 
still  encouraging  and  hissing  the  dogs.  All  at  once  the  large  dog  was 
chased  back  close  to  me,  the  fence  only  between  us,  and  as  the  dog  gave 
a  pitiful  yelp,  I  felt  frightened,  and  my  hair  rose  on  my  head,  so  that  I 
halloaed  with  all  my  might,  which  I  suppose  saved  the  dog  and  myself. 
It  was  so  dark  I  could  see  nothing,  but  heard  something  I  supposed  to 
be  the  wolf  making  tracks  on  the  leaves  above  the  brush  fence  as  if  he 
would  as  leave  be  off.  The  dog  was  so  frightened  that  he  would  not 
stir  nor  bark  as  before,  but  as  soon  as  I  left  the  fence  for  the  house,  the 
dog  followed  me  to  the  door,  glad  to  be  off,  and  so  was  I. 

I  and  Thomas  spent  that  summer  working  on  the  farm  and  getting  in 
the  harvest,  but  I  must  say  that  I  never  saw  so  wet  a  harvest.  I  saw 
wheat  standing  uncut  in  Jesse  White's  field  and  the  heads  sprouted. 

MY    FIRST   VOTE. 

The  8th  of  October  following,  i8io,  when  we  arose  in  the  morning 
there  was  snow  on  the  ground  an  inch  or  two  deep.  This  day  being 
the  second  Tuesday  of  October,  I  concluded  to  go  with  my  neighbor, 
Jesse  White,  to  the  annual  election,  and  for  the  first  time  give  my  vote. 

Jesse  White,  being  one  of  the  trustees,  and  seeing  it  was  past  eight 
o'clock,  proposed  to  have  the  election  opened,  although  the  township 
clerk  had  not  yet  come.  But  he  proposed  to  those  present  to  take  me 
in  place  of  the  clerk,  and  then  nominated  another  young  man  as 
assistant  clerk.  We  were  thereupon  chosen  and  qualified,  as  the  law 
directed,  and  then  set  about  forming  a  poll-book,  at  which  we  made  but 
a  poor  out,  as  neither  of  us  had  any  experience  in  such  matters.  And 
although  we  had  the  law-book,  with  the  form  in  a  concise  way  laid 
down  in  it,  yet  we  did  not  understand  it,  nor  could  the  judges  of  the 
election  guide  us,  nor  give  us  any  information,  for  they  were  just  as 
ignorant  on  that  subject  as  ourselves. 

FIRST   DOLLAR   EARNED  ON   PUBLIC   BUSINESS. 

We  had  not  been  long  at  work  on  our  poll-books  when  the  township 
clerk  came  with  the  poll-box,  and  one  blank  form,  at  least,  made  out. 


1810]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  PS 

But  he  was  so  displeased  at  the  loss  of  his  place  at  the  election  board, 
whereby  he  lost  a  dollar,  that  he  would  give  us  neither  his  form  nor  any 
information.  However,  we  blundered  on,  and  made  out  our  poll-books 
after  some  manner  of  form,  and  the  next  day  old  Jesse  White  carried 
the  one  I  made  out  to  the  clerk  of  the  court  at  St.  Clairsville,  and  it  was 
accepted,  and  he  brought  me  my  dollar,  the  first  I  ever  received  for  any 
public  business  transacted  by  me.  It  was  not  the  last,  for  it  is  now 
forty-two  years  past,  and  since  that  time  I  have  made  by  my  pen,  I 
would  say,  more  than  $300  at  odd  times,  outside  of  my  regular  work. 

But  I  felt  chagrined  that  I  could  not  do  better  in  making  out  the  first 
new  poll-book.  However,  I  resolved  not  to  stay  in  ignorance  any 
longer  on  this  subject,  so  I  borrowed  the  law  book  of  old  Jesse  White, 
and  re-examined  the  form,  and  then  took  paper,  pen  and  ink,  and  drew 
out  a  complete  form,  so  that  I  never  afterwards  forgot  the  form  of  that 
or  any  other  poll-book  for  any  election. 

But  that  was  not  all;  while  I  had  these  "  Revised  Statutes  for  1810  " 
I  read  them  carefully  through,  one  act  after  another,  general  laws  and 
local  laws  and  all,  for  they  were  all  mixed  up  together  at  that  time,  just 
as  they  were  passed  from  day  to  day,  and  not  separated  as  they  are  now. 
The  reading  of  the  laws  of  Ohio  at  this  time  was  not  lost  time,  as  it 
gave  me  a  general  knowledge  of  the  laws,  and  what  law  was ;  but  I 
derived  another  advantage  by  reading  the  laws,  and  that  was  a  better 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  good  language,  both  in  speaking  and  writing, 
which  has  been  of  great  use  to  me  ever  since.  If  I  was  called  upon  to 
draw  any  article  of  agreement,  or  a  will,  or  any  other  instrument,  I  was 
able  to  clothe  it  with  better  language. 

THE   PUMPKIN   FLOOD. 

There  was  a  very  hard  frost  the  next  morning,  the  9th  of  October, 
and  I  and  Thomas  and  Jesse  White's  son,  Israel,  at  once  began  topping 
and  blading  the  corn. 

After  this  I  sowed  wheat  in  the  corn-field  of  five  acres,  and  the  seed- 
wheat  I  procured  was  the  red  chaff  beardy,  the  first  of  that  variety  I 
had  ever  seen,  and  it  weighed  sixty-five  pounds  to  the  bushel.  We 
next  turned  our  attention  to  the  six-acre  field  that  we  had  been  clearing 
off  during  the  summer,  and  by  the  12th  of  November  I  had  finished  the 


86  THE  SHERRARD   EAMILV.  [1811. 

plowing.  The  next  day  I  sowed  it,  and  Thomas  harrowed  after  me. 
On  the  14th  I  went  on  with  the  harrowing,  and  by  noon  got  it  all 
harrowed  one  way  and  about  one  and  one-half  acres  the  other  way, 
when  it  began  to  rain,  so  that  I  was  forced  to  loose  the  horses  and  go 
home,  and  no  more  harrowing  was  done  that  fall  season. 

It  rained  on — a  heavy,  steady  rain — for  two  days  and  nights,  which 
raised  the  Ohio  River  to  a  greater  height  than  it  had  been  known  for 
many  years,  and  swept  off  fences  and  houses,  stables,  mills  and  saw- 
mills, corn,  fodder,  pumpkins,  hay  in  the  stack,  wheat  in  the  stack,  etc. 

But  from  the  great  quantity  of  pumpkins  seen  floating  down  the  river 
it  took  the  name  of  the  "  Pumpkin  Freshet,"  and  is  yet  known  by  that 
amongst  the  few  old  settlers  who  remain  alive  to  this  time,  for  a 
period  of  forty-two  years  has  gone  round  since. 

William  and  John  came  home  late  that  fall  and  stayed  all  winter,  and 
during  that  winter  we  built  a  corn-crib,  and  also  cut  logs  and  built  a  log 
stable  twenty-seven  feet  long  and  twenty-one  feet  wide.  We  cut  timber 
and  split  clapboards  and  covered  it,  and  also  cut  and  split  and  hewed 
puncheons  and  laid  floors  in  it.  This  occupied  our  time  till  the  snow 
fell  six  inches  deep  in  March. 

While  the  snow  lay  on  in  March,  181 1,  it  was  a  great  inducement  for 
hunting  and  killing  deer,  and  accordingly  John  took  the  gun  and  went 
out  hunting.  The  first  day  he  killed  a  young  doe  nearly  a  year  old, 
and  the  next  day  he  killed  a  growing  fawn  six  or  eight  months  old,  and 
the  third  day  he  killed  a  spike  buck.  John's  success  raised  the  hunting 
propensities  of  William  and  Thomas  to  such  a  pitch  that  they  could  not 
resist  the  charm  of  killing  deer  as  well  as  John,  and  having  but  one 
gun,  William  took  it,  and  did  not  return  till  late  in  the  evening,  tired, 
weak  and  hungry,  but  no  game,  and  his  bad  luck  cured  him  of  deer 
hunting  for  that  season.  But  Thomas,  nothing  daunted,  took  the  gun 
the  next  day  and  scoured  the  hills  and  dales,  with  no  better  success 
than  William  the  day  before,  and  that  stopped  his  further  hunting. 

As  soon  as  the  March  snow  melted  off  we  all  four  went  to  grubbing 
six  acres  for  corn,  and  after  clearing  the  ground  ready  for  the  plough, 
we  made  rails  and  fenced  it  in.  This  done  William  and  John  left  home 
for  young  Tom  Fleming's,  near  Smithfield,  where  they  undertook  the 
building  of  a  large   two-story  frame   house,  all  the  timber   to   be  taken 


1811.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  87 

from  the  stump, — frame,  shingles  and  weather-boards.  The  weather- 
boards for  the  front  were  cut  and  spHt  six  feet  long,  and  all  the  weather- 
boards were  shaved.  This  was  a  heavy  job  for  two  hands,  but  by- 
constant  work  they  finished  it  some  time  in  September,  and  they  then 
undertook  to  hew  locust  posts  and  split  and  shave  palings  for  fencing  in 
Fleming's  yard  and  garden. 

It  was  while  hewing  these  posts  that  William  met  with  a  serious 
accident, — in  throwing  down  a  post  an  axe  flew  up  and  struck  him 
between  the  shoulders,  and  he  was  cut  badly,  the  full  length  of  its  edge- 

This  cut  rendered  him  unfit  for  work  for  three  weeks,  during  which 
time  he  came  home  and  stayed  two  weeks. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  he  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  old  William 
Wood's  proposal,  which  was  to  purchase  of  the  said  Wood  the  undi- 
vided half  of  two  hundred  acres  of  land  on  Rush  Run,  with  Elias 
Pegg's  old  saw-mill  on  it,  and  enter  into  partnership  with  him,  and  build 
a  merchant-mill  on  it,  and  go  on  to  grind  wheat  and  make  and  sell 
flour.  To  this  proposition  I  replied  that  I  would  be  glad  to  exchange 
the  clearing  of  land  and  the  farming  business,  of  which  I  said  I  was 
heartily  tired,  for  the  milling  business ;  and  I  therefore  told  him  that  he 
had  my  approbation  to  sell  the  farm  here  on  Captina,  and  take  William 
Wood  at  his  offer. 

But  in  this  case  I  reckoned  without  my  host,  for  I  had  been  bred  up 
from  infancy  to  farming  and  clearing  land,  but  knew  nothing  of  the 
hardships,  and  turmoils,  vexations,  and  anxieties  and  difficulties, 
with  heavy  lifting  and  sleepless  nights,  which  belong  to  the  milling 
business. 

RUSH  RUN  PROPERTY  PURCHASED. 

William  returned  to  his  work  at  Fleming's,  and  when  they  had  finished 
vi-hat  they  had  engaged  to  do  there,  he  and  John  returned  home.  In 
the  mean  time  William  had  purchased  the  undivided  one-half  of  the 
before-mentioned  tract  of  land  of  William  Wood,  which  he  had  previ- 
ously purchased  of  Elias  Pegg,  containing  two  hundred  acres,  for  which 
William  paid  Wood  the  sum  of  ^500,  land  being  cheap  at  that  time,  and 
this  Rush  Run  tract  being  very  steep,  hilly  and  broken,  there  being  not 
more  than  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  acres  of  level  land  that  was  suitable 
for  plowing,  excepting  hillside  land.     The  mill  seat  was  the  object. 


88  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1811. 

PIONEERS    AT    WORK. 

During  that  summer  of  1811  I  and  Thomas  were  left  at  home  as 
usual  to  plow  up  the  new  ground,  together  with  three  and  one-half 
acres  of  old  ground  we  cleared  and  had  in  corn  the  last  year.  I  first 
plowed  up  an  acre  and  a  half  of  the  ground  we  had  in  potatoes  and 
turnips  the  year  before,  and  sowed  it  with  flax-seed  ;  I  then  plowed  up 
half  an  acre  of  the  land  we  had  in  corn  the  year  before  and  sowed  it 
also  in  flax,  which  proved  to  be  the  best  crop  of  flax  the  family  ever 
raised  before  or  since. 

I  ne.xt  put  in  about  two  acres  of  oats,  and  planted  corn  in  what  was 
left  of  the  old  ground,  and  in  all  the  new  ground  that  was  cleared. 
Then  we  cleared  off  an  acre,  and  planted  it  with  potatoes,  and  cut  and 
split  rails  till  the  corn  and  potatoes  were  ready  to  work,  and  then  it 
kept  us  busy  to  plow  and  hoe  it  till  harvest  came  on,  of  which  we  had 
eleven  acres  of  wheat  and  two  acres  of  oats  to  cut,  and  two  acres  of  flax 
to  pull,  and  all  to  stack  and  stow  away  from  damage  by  wet ;  and  the 
pulling  of  flax  was  the  worst  job  of  all,  for  it  made  the  back  ache.  I 
also  cut  two  acres  of  timothy  grass ;  but  such  cutting  as  it  was,  for  I 
knew  no  more  about  the  art  of  mowing  or  whetting  the  scythe  than  an 
Indian,  although  I  was  at  that  time  over  twenty-two  years  of  age. 

The  reason  is  obvious :  I  came  away  from  Fayette  County  before  I 
had  learned  the  art  of  mowing,  and  for  the  last  six  years  had  lived  on 
land  where  there  was  as  yet  no  meadow  made.  After  harvest  in 
August  I  and  Thomas  made  rails  and  fenced  in  another  field,  and  one 
morning  after  breakfast  I  sat  down  to  half-sole  my  shoes ;  but  the 
wa.xed  end  ravelled,  and  I  could  not  get  along  with  cobbling  as  at  some 
other  kinds  of  work.  So  I  agreed  with  Thomas  that  if  he  would  sew 
on  the  half  soles,  I  would  go  out  and  chop  and  split  fifty  rails.  Thomas 
went  at  the  shoe-cobbling,  and  I  went  to  the  woods,  and  chopped  and 
split  thirty-nine  rails,  when  the  horn  blew  for  dinner. 

After  dinner  we  started  from  the  house  at  one  o'clock,  and  Thomas 
said  to  me :  "  You  complain  that  I  don't  do  as  much  work  as  you  ;  now, 
let  us  see  who  will  cut  and  split  the  most  rails  by  evening."  I  agreed, 
and  told  him  that  as  he  was  the  youngest,  he  might  choose  and  mark 
four  trees  for  his  use,  and  I  would  choose  others.   ■  So  at  it  we  went 


1811.]  FA  MIL  V  HIS  TORY.  89 

with  strength  and  vigor  and  hearty  good-will,  and  when  the  sun  was 
yet  an  hour  high,  Thomas  proposed  to  count  the  rails,  as  he  had  to  go 
two  or  three  miles  to  drive  home  the  cows.  I  took  him  at  his  word, 
and  we  found  that  I  had  cut  and  split  one  hundred  and  two  rails,  and 
he  fifty-four ;  and  this  convinced  him  that  I  could  do  the  most  work, 
except  at  very  light  work. 

About  this  time  our  cows  strayed  out  of  their  common  walks,  and 
were  gone  nine  days  before  I  found  them,  and  yet  they  were  not  more 
than  three  miles  from  home. 

Thomas  hunted  for  them  two  or  three  days  without  success,  and  I 
then  started  out  and  spent  the  first  day  without  getting  any  tidings  of 
them,  for  the  reason  that  I  was  hunting  for  them  to  the  North,  while 
they  were  all  the  time  over  to  the  Southeast.  On  leaving  home  the 
first  day,  I  took  no  provision  with  me,  and  although  I  called  at  several 
cabin-houses  to  make  inquiry,  it  happened  either  before  or  after  dinner, 
and  I  was  so  diffident  that  I  did  not  ask  for  food;  so  that  by  evening, 
on  my  arrival  home,  I  was  both  weak  and  hungry. 

PERILS   OF   THE    BACKWOODS. 

The  second  day  I  started  out  with  three  cold  apple-dumplings  in  a 
small  bag,  and  about  noon  I  sat  down  on  a  large  rock  in  the  woods  far 
from  any  cabin,  and  ate  my  cold  apple-dumplings  without  any  sauce  but 
a  good  appetite,  and  I  thought  it  as  sweet  and  inviting  a  morsel  as  I 
ever  ate.  This  day  I  stepped  up  on  a  large  log,  which  had  split  open 
in  falling,  which  left  a  crevice  of  six  or  eight  inches  of  an  opening,  into 
which  the  leaves  had  blown  and  filled  up  the  crevice. 

As  soon  as  I  stepped  up  on  the  log,  I  heard  a  rustling  among  the 
dry  leaves  all  along  the  crevice,  and  saw  several  copperheads  disappear 
among  the  leaves.  On  looking  round  on  the  ground  in  different  direc- 
tions, I  saw  several  of  these  copperheads  lying  stretched  out  at  full 
length  basking  in  the  open  air  ;  for  sunshine  thej^  had  but  little,  there 
being  much  shade  from  the  green  timber. 

Some  of  these  snakes  on  the  ground  crawled  under  the  old  log ;  but 
I  soon  looked  out  a  clear  spot,  and  made  good  my  retreat  from  this  den 
of  snakes  of  the  copperhead  kind. 

I  then   continued   my  course   southeast,  and   called  at  the  cabin   of 


90  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1811. 

Ezekiel  Smith,  but  got  no  tidings  of  my  lost  cows.  I  then  made  my 
way  to  John  Euwer's,  and  there  I  found  them,  and  learned  that  they 
had  made  that  place  their  home,  as  they  came  up  there  regularly  every 
evening,  and  had  first  come  there  nine  days  before.  I  drove  the  cows 
home;  but  they  were  all  three  as  dry  of  milk  as  if  they  never  had  any, 
and  now  what  was  to  be  done  to  bring  them  back  to  milk  again  ?  Two 
of  them  had  calves  that  had  been  weaned  about  two  weeks  before  they 
had  gone  away,  and  we  now  turned  the  calves  back  to  them,  and  by 
this  means  the  milk  returned ;  but  the  third  cow  remained  dry. 

BITTEN    BY   A   COPPERHEAD. 

After  this  cow  hunt  was  over,  I  and  Thomas  returned  to  our  business 
of  making  rails,  and  when  it  was  conjectured  by  Thomas  that  we  had 
enough  made  to  fence  in  the  proposed  lot,  he  suggested  that  we  should 
take  the  rod  pole  and  measure  the  ground.  I  agreed,  and  very  un- 
thoughtedly  stepped  from  the  log,  where  I  had  been  chopping  in  my 
bare  feet,  and  forgot  to  put  on  my  shoes,  not  thinking  of  snakes  among 
the  old  dead  leaves. 

While  we  were  measuring  I  raised  my  left  foot  to  make  a  step,  and 
before  I  had  time  to  set  it  to  the  ground  again,  a  large  copperhead  that 
lay  coiled  on  the  leaves,  unseen  by  either  Thomas  or  me,  took  me  slap 
on  the  left  foot,  on  the  inside  about  an  inch  below  the  ankle  bone.  The 
instant  the  fangs  of  the  upper  jaw  sunk  into  my  flesh  I  felt  the  sting  to 
my  heart,  and  looking  down,  the  snake  had  just  withdrawn  his  head 
from  my  foot  and  was  making  off  I  called  to  Thomas  to  come  and  kill 
it,  which  he  did  in  short  order.  I  then  directed  him  to  gather  a  handful 
of  white  plantain,  and  the  same  of  wild  touch-me-not,  and  the  same  of 
snake-weed,  so  that  these  herbs  could  be  boiled  in  sweet  milk.  I  then 
walked  down  and  put  on  my  shoes  and  started  for  home,  with  the  pain 
increasing  every  moment.  When  I  got  home  I  immediately  lay  down 
on  the  bed  to  await  the  preparation  of  the  poultice ;  but  Thoinas  had  to 
go  over  to  Jesse  White's  to  get  sweet  milk,  for  our  cows  had  not  come 
home  the  night  before.  He  soon  returned,  and  Jesse  White  with  him, 
who  brought  along  a  strip  of  white  walnut  bark,  which  he  tied  tight 
around  my  leg  just  below  my  knee,  to  keep  the  swelling  below  the 
bandage.     As  soon  as  the  herbs  were  sufficiently  boiled  in  the  milk,  and 


1811.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  91 

the  milk  cooled,  I  drank  plentifully  of  the  milk  thus  prepared,  and  had  a 
poultice  of  the  herbs  put  upon  the  wound. 

This  process  I  had  frequent  recourse  to  through  each  day  for  just 
a  week,  at  the  end  of  which  time  I  was  able  to  go  to  work  again. 
While  I  was  laid  up  with  my  snake  bite,  Thomas  was  one  evening 
late  in  bringing  home  the  cows,  so  that  mother  did  not  get  the  milk- 
ing done  before  dark.  Thomas  waited  on  her,  and  had  brought  in 
part  of  the  milk,  and  then  stepped  across  the  floor  and  threw  him- 
self down  on  mother's  bed.  Just  then  I  noticed  by  the  light  of  the 
fire  a  large  copperhead  coming  crawling  out  from  the  left  of  the  fire- 
place, and  it  made  its  way  under  my  bed  just  as  mother  came  in  at  the 
door. 

I  called  to  her  to  hand  me  the  stick  that  I  kept  to  hop  out  with,  which 
she  did ;  and  I  raised  up  the  bed-clothes  and  saw  the  snake  coiled  up  on 
the  floor  under  my  bed.  I  tried  to  strike  it,  but  it  got  away,  and 
although  Thomas  immediately  lit  a  candle  and  made  search,  it  could  not 
be  found.  I  bade  him  shake  and  turn  all  the  bed-clothes,  and  to  take 
everything  off  from  every  bedstead,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  for  the  snake 
could  not  be  found ;  but  as  there  were  large  cracks  in  the  puncheon 
floor,  1  supposed  it  had  crept  down  under  the  floor. 

So  under  this  apprehension,  the  next  morning  I  directed  Thomas  to 
lift  every  puncheon  in  the  floor,  but  nothing  was  found,  and  no  harm  re- 
sulted from  this  unwelcome  visitor;  but  it  increased  mother's  dread,  and 
such  experiences  made  us  the  more  willing  to  leave  the  place. 

THE   CAPTINA    FARM    SOLD. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  after  William  and  John  returned  that  fall 
of  i8ii,  till  William  sold  the  land  we  then  lived  on,  the  Captina  farm, 
to  an  old  Quaker  from  Philadelphia,  by  the  name  of  Matthew  Wood, 
for  ^563. 50.  (When  in  Barnesville,  O.,  February  22,  1890,  I  learned 
from  Mr.  T.  S.  Bradfield  that  part  of  this  old  Captina  farm,  122  acres,  is 
now  owned  by  the  heirs  of  Samuel  Russell,  and  the  other  part  by  A.  J. 
Smith.  I  would  have  gone  out  to  see  it,  but  the  roads  were  impassa- 
ble, and  it  is  three  miles  south  of  Burton  Station,  on  the  B.  &  O.  R.  R. — 
T.  J.  S.) 

It  was  worth  at  that  time  as  much  more,  for   we  had  paid  two  dollars 


92  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1811. 

an  acre  for  it,  Congress  price,  the  principal  and  interest  of  which,  by  the 
time  it  was  sold,  would  be  nearly  ^400.  Add  to  that  the  hard  grubbing, 
chopping  undergrowth,  rolling  logs  and  burning  them,  and  chopping 
and  picking  and  burning  brush  ;  then  the  number  of  rails  made  and  put 
up  so  as  to  enclose  four  fields,  and  the  first  three-acre  lot  cleared, 
amounting  in  all  to  forty  acres  cleared  and  fenced  ;  added  to  this,  the 
building  of  the  cabin,  stable  and  corn-crib,  all  of  which  at  a  moderate 
allowance  would  be  worth  $400  more,  and  this  would  make  in  all  $Soo, 
so  that  we  were  out  at  least  ^240. 

The  grubbing  was  worth  from  $2  to  $2.50  an  acre,  and  all  the  other 
work  was  worth  ,$5  an  acre;  the  rails  were  worth  $\  per  hundred  for 
making  and  putting  up,  and  the  other  improvements  were  worth  $J^. 

I  never  could  tell  why  William  sold  it  so  cheap,  and  I  did  not  approve 
of  the  sale,  as  there  was  no  necessity  to  sell,  since  William 'Wood  did 
not  want  the  money  for  the  Rush  Run  property,  provided  he  got  six 
per  cent,  interest. 

Here  was  an  evident  want  of  judgment  on  William's  part,  to  whom 
was  confided  by  the  rest  of  us  the  management  and  control  of  affairs 
belonging  to  the  family,  and  the  only  mistake  in  judgment  to  which 
I  can  now  now  point  during  his  administration  of  our  affairs  for  twenty 
years. 

For,  be  it  remembered,  that  he  was  a  man  of  profound  judgment, 
more  so  than  any  of  his  brothers,  who  all  gave  up  to  his  judgment, 
management  and  control ;  hence  he  obtained,  even  when  young,  the 
sobriquet  of  the  "  old  man." 

However,  William's  eagerness  to  sell  the  farm  may  in  part  be 
accounted  for  in  the  fact  that  mother  never  liked  to  live  there,  and  on 
her  account  William  felt  that  it  was  too  far  in  the  backwoods,  sur- 
rounded by  dangers  from  wolves,  copperheads  and  rattlesnakes,  and 
lonesome. 

WHY  WE   LEFT   CAPTINA. 

During  that  summer  and  fall  we  had  been  so  much  annoyed  with 
copperheads  and  rattlesnakes  coming  even  into  the  house,  that  mother 
was  made  very  uneasy  and  nervous,  and  afraid  to  rise  in  the  night  from 
her  bed,  and  on  the  occasion  when  the  large  copperhead  had  come 


1811.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  93 

out  from  behind  the  fireplace,  and  escaped  under  the  floor,  the  boys 
tore  out  the  whole  fireplace,  and  found  that  the  creatures  had  a  nest  back 
there  where  they  could  not  be  reached,  and  this  added  to  the  uneasiness 
of  mother's  mind.  From  that  one  nest  behind  the  fire-place,  the  boys 
killed  thirteen  largd  copperheads.  It  was  the  next  morning  after  that, 
while  William  was  at  home,  and  I  was  still  confined  to  bed  from  the 
snake  bite,  that  he  called  the  other  two  boys  out  of  the  house,  and  said: 
"  Boys,  we  have  too  good  a  mother  to  allow  her  to  live  in  such  a  way  as 
this,  and  she  is  wearing  out  her  life  with  the  worry  and  anxiety  of  such 
a  life,  separated  from  comforts  and  associations  such  as  she  has  been 
accustomed  to.  For  one  I  am  determined  that  this  thing  shall  last  no 
longer,  and  that  she  shall  live  somewhere  else,  where  she  will  not  have 
so  much  to  worry  her."  As  a  result  of  this  conversation  he  purchased 
the  Rush  Run  property  that  fall,  and  sold  this  Captina  place  as  has  been 
mentioned. 

LEAVING   CAPTINA    FARM. 

Accordingly,  when  William  sold  the  place  that  fall,  I  was  called  upon 
to  draw  up  the  writings  for  the  bargain  and  sale  of  this  land.  I  was  soon 
after  called  on  by  old  Jesse  White  to  draw  his  will.  And  this  was  about 
the  commencement  of  my  writing  for  the  public,  such  as  drawing  deeds, 
mortgages,  wills  and  articles  of  agreement  more  than  I  can  remember, 
now  March  27,  1853.  After  the  land  was  sold  we  began  to  make  active 
preparations  for  moving ;  the  corn  was  got  in  and  husked  and  put  up  in 
the  crib,  and  we  next  dug  and  holed  the  potatoes.  After  this  I  was 
next  called  on  to  write  the  advertisements  for  the  vendue,  and  when  the 
day  of  sale  came  on  I  clerked,  and  made  out  the  sale  list,  and  filled 
up  all   the  notes  given. 

CONDITIONS   OF   SALE. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  conditions  of  that  sale: 

"I.  The  highest  and  best  bidder  to  be  the  purchaser  ;  the  owner  reserving  to  him- 
self one  bid  on  each  article  offered  for  sale. 

2.  Any  person  purchasing  to  the  amount  of  two  dollars  and  upwards,  shall  have 
one  year's  credit ;  by  giving  their  note  with  approved  security  before  the  property  is 
removed,  and  all  under  that  sum  must  be  cash ;  also,  all  those  who  can  make  it  con- 
venient to  pay  cash  shall  have  a  discount  of  8  per  cent. 


94  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  \\%\\. 

3.  Any  person  purchasing  property  and  not  complying  with  these  conditions,  must 
return  the  same  before  sunset  with  25  per  cent,  on  the  amount  of  purchase  for  disap- 
pointment of  sale. 

William  Sherrard. 
Goshen  Township,  Belmont  County,  O. 
October  26,  1811." 

A   YANKEE   SCUTCHING   FLAX. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  vendue  till  the  family  all  moved  off  to  Rush 
Run,  leaving  me  behind  to  dress  flax,  and  feed  out  pumpkins  and  short 
refuse  corn  to  some  young  cattle,  one  horse,  one  beef  cow,  and  ten  fat- 
tening hogs. 

They  left  me  on  November  2,  181 1,  and  Henry  Edwards,  who  lived 
on  Hall's  land  two  miles  south  of  Sinithfield,  the  same  who  moved  us 
down  into  Belmont  County  April  26,  18 10,  now  moved  the  family  back 
from  Captina  to  Rush  Run. 

Left  behind  as  I  was,  I  stayed  there  with  little  company  except  two 
dogs,  a  large  and  a  small  one,  and  one  house  cat.  I  employed  a  strag- 
gling Yankee  for  the  space  of  four  or  five  days  to  scutch  flax  at  the  rate 
of  two  pence  a  pound  ;  I  broke  and  cropped  the  flax,  and  he  scutchecl 
twenty-two  and  a  half  pounds  each  day  by  noon,  which  amounted  to 
just  fifty  cents. 

After  dinner  he  would  come  out,  the  weather  of  all  that  November 
being  very  fine,  and  would  lie  down  on  the  shives,  or  refuse  breakage  of 
the  flax,  and  roll  about  and  whistle  and  sing,  and  in  this  manner  he 
would  spend  the  remainder  of  the  day.  I  asked  hitn  why  he  did  not 
scutch  in  the  after  part  of  the  day,  so  that  he  could  thus  earn  fifty  cents 
more,  but  his  reply  was  that  fifty  cents  was  enough  for  a  man  to  earn  in 
a  day.  By  inquiry  I  found  that  he  was  a  married  man  with  a  wife  and 
three  or  four  children,  and  yet  how  content  he  seemed  to  be  with  a  little 
of  this  world's  goods,  while  thousands  are  not  content  if  it  were  possible 
to  grasp  all  the  gold  in  California. 

A  JAW   OUT   OF  JOINT. 

On  one  of  the  days  the  Yankee  scutched  flax  for  me  I  felt  a  little 
alarmed  at  what  took  place  with  me :  I  was  at  the  time  cropping  flax, 
and  having  occasion  to  gape,  I  suffered  the  jaw  to  extend  a  little  too 


1811.]  .     FAMILY  HISTORY.  95 

much  beyond  the  proper  point,  which  threw  the  lower  jaw  out  of  joint, 
and  there  I  stood  with  my  mouth  gaping  wide  open,  and  it  could  not  be 
shut,  nor  could  I  speak  to  tell  what  was  the  matter.  I  immediately  felt 
alarmed,  and  set  to  work  to  try  to  get  the  under  jaw  unlocked,  that  I 
might  once  more  get  my  mouth  shut,  and  for  that  purpose  I  placed  a 
thumb  under  the  joint  of  the  lower  jaw  on  each  side,  and  by  thus  work- 
ing my  thumbs  for  a  very  short  space,  the  jaw  flew  to  its  place,  to  my 
great  joy  and  comfort.  From  that  time  until  the  beginning  of  May, 
181 3,  I  kept  my  jaw  in  due  bounds,  but  at  this  latter  period  mentioned 
I  and  my  brother  William  were  returning  from  a  general  muster  held 
at  Bawlding  Person's  mill,  which  was  up  Short  Creek,  twelve  miles 
beyond  Smithfield,  and  on  our  way  home,  about  a  mile  west  of  Smith- 
field,  I  was  riding  before  William,  who  was  in  company  with  some  other 
man,  and  I  had  occasion  to  gape.  Just  as  had  happened  a  year  and  a  half 
before,  because  I  suffered  my  jaws  to  extend  too  wide,  my  lower  jaw  came 
out  of  joint  as  before.  I  immediately  stopped  my  horse,  and  strove  to 
put  it  into  place  by  working  my  thumbs  at  the  joints  of  the  jaws  on  each 
side,  but  failed. 

Perhaps  I  became  too  soon  alarmed,  and  too  soon  gave  up  the  effort, 
expecting  help  of  my  brother  William. 

When  he  saw  me  dismount  and  make  the  effort  just  described,  he 
dismounted  also,  and  asked  me  what  was  the  matter,  but  I  could  not 
speak,  being  able  only  to  make  signs  as  to  what  was  wrong  and  how  to 
give  me  relief. 

He  made  the  effort,  but  perhaps,  like  myself,  he  was  too  much 
alarmed  to  persevere ;  he  soon  gave  it  up  and  told  me  to  tie  my  hand- 
kerchief over  my  mouth  and  ride  into  Smithfield  and  get  assistance 
from  Doctor  William  Judkins,  who,  at  that  time,  boarded  with  old 
William  Wood. 

We  went  immediately  into  Smithfield  and  soon  found  the  doctor,  who 
seated  me  on  a  chair,  and  bid  my  brother  William  stand  behind  my 
chair  and  hold  my  forehead  firm. 

The  doctor  then  placed  a  thumb  of  each  hand  in  my  mouth,  firmly 
gripping  the  jaw  with  each  hand,  and  by  working  up  and  down,  and 
pulling  forward,  he  soon  had  my  jaw  brought  into  its  place.  No  sooner 
was  this  done  than  old  William  Wood,  through   kindness,  would  have 


96  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1811. 

William  and  me  to  go  and  eat  supper,  as  the  family  had  just  eaten 
before  we  entered.  I  and  William  sat  down  at  the  table,  and  after  eating 
a  few  bites  of  bread  old  William  Wood  handed  me  a  small  cut  of  currant 
tart,  which  crust  and  all  was  not  an  inch  thick ;  but,  be  that  as  it  may, 
I  opened  my  mouth  and  put  in  a  bit  of  currant  tart,  and  in  doing  so  the 
lower  jaw  flew  off  again,  and  the  doctor  had  to  be  called  in  a  second 
time,  but  to  prevent  further  trouble,  I  took  out  my  handkerchief  and 
tied  the  lower  jaw  fast  to  my  head.  And  although  it  is  forty  years  past 
last  May,  yet  no  such  disaster  has  again  happened  to  me  at  any  time 
since,  but  I  have  always  been  on  my  guard  ever  since,  and  will  not 
suffer  my  jaws  to  extend  beyond  a  due  limit.     (Written  in  1853.) 

MAKING     ROPE. 

During  the  few  weeks  that  I  was  left  behind  at  Captina,  feeding  the 
stock  and  scutching  flax,  it  was  my  custom  to  pull  out  from  the  crop- 
pings  the  longest  shreds  and  save  them,  and  at  night  I  amused  myself, 
and  beguiled  the  time  to  a  late  hour,  having  nothing  to  read,  neither 
books  nor  newspapers,  by  twisting  these  shreds  into  rope  yarn.  This 
I  wound  up  into  balls,  which  were  carried  in  a  bag  to  Rush  Run,  and 
there  made  into  a  bed-cord  and  put  to  immediate  use  the  latter  part  of 
l8ll,and  is  in  use  at  this  day,  in  1853,  here  in  my  house,  and  may, 
with  care,  last  out  this  century;  it  is  the  oldest  rope  I  have  any  knowl- 
edge of 

On  December  8,  181 1,  my  brother  John,  with  a  young  man  named 
Benjamin  Tingley,  son  of  an  old  neighbor  from  Rush  Run,  arrived  at 
my  hermitage,  bringing  with  them  two  other  horses,  so  that  we  might 
pack  on  them  some  articles  and  that  we  might  ride  time  about  on  some 
one  or  two  of  them.  After  spending  the  9th  in  packing  and  making 
arrangements,  we  spent  that  night  at  the  house  of  our  neighbor,  Jesse 
White,  and  the  next  morning,  December  10,  181 1,  after  an  early  break- 
fast, we  left  Jesse  White's  and  drove  for  home,  but  we  did  not  reach 
Rush  Run,  till  after  night,  for  the  distance  was  at  least  thirty  miles,  and 
the  days  were  at  their  shortest.  The  hogs  and  cow  cattle  drove  slowly, 
but  by  constant  pushing  we  made  headway. 

Tlie  flax  that  I  paid  the  Yankee  for  dressing  we  tied  up  at  full  length, 


1811.]  ■      FAMILY  HISTORY.  97 

and  put  an  equal  portion  on  each  side  of  a  pack  saddle  on  a  horse, 
and  thus  packed  it  home ;  and  as  we  came  through  St.  Ciairsville, 
the  towns-people  gazed  at  us,  but  the  long  flax  attracted  the  most 
attention. 


SECTION    V. 

1811-1815. 

THE  RUSH  RUN  MILL. 

ON  our  return  home  from  Captina,  we  learned  of  old  Mr.  Tingley  and 
wife,  who  had  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  New  Jersey  by  way 
of  uncle  David  Cathcart's,  that  my  aunt  Susanna  was  lying 
very  dangerously  ill  of  a  fever,  and  word  had  been  sent  by  them  for 
some  of  us  to  go  up  and  pay  a  visit,  and  bring  back  word  whether  she 
was  living  or  dead.  Accordingly  it  fell  upon  me  to  go,  and  after  get- 
ting my  horse  shod,  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th  of  December,  181 1,  I 
started  for  old  Fayette. 

On  crossing  the  river  at  Wellsburg  I  was  asked  if  we  had  felt  any 
shocks  of  an  earthquake  up  Rush  Run  the  night  before,  but  I  said  that 
we  had  felt  none.  They  said  that  they  had  felt  several  shocks  in  the 
night,  and  we  afterwards  learned  that  it  was  no  wonder,  as  the  seat  of  a 
young  earthquake  had  its  home  on  the  Mississippi  River  bordering  on 
the  State  of  Tennessee,  where  considerable  damage  was  done.  But  I, 
unconcerned  about  earthquakes  or  anything  else,  pursued  my  journey, 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  second  day  a  little  after  dark  I  arrived  at  my 
uncle's,  and  found  my  aunt  better  and  sitting  propped  up  in  a  large  arm 
chair.  But  she  had  been  so  low  that  they  had  thought  her  at  one  time 
dead,  but  she  had  revived  again.  She  recovered  her  health,  and  enjoyed 
good  health  for  more  than  fourteen  years  after  that,  until  she  took  some 
kind  of  erysipelas,  and  died  April  21,  1826,  aged  seventy-eight  years. 
7 


98  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1812. 

AN     IMPORTANT    INTRODUCTION. 

During  my  visit  in  the  old  neighborhood  where  I  was  brought  up,  I 
enjoyed  myself  exceedingly  well.  About  the  first  week  in  January, 
1812,  old  Joseph  Kithcart  called  at  my  uncle's  on  his  way  home  from 
Court  at  Uniontown. 

He  lived  across  east  of  the  Youghiogheny,  six  miles  beyond  Connells- 
ville,  on  the  road  to  Mount  Pleasant,  Westmoreland  County,  and  just 
half  way  between  Connellsville  and   Mount  Pleasant,  near  the  mountain. 

On  being  introduced  to  him  as  a  brother  of  David  A.  C.  Sherrard's, 
he  very  kindly  invited  me  and  my  brother  David  to  pay  him  and  family 
a  visit,  which  invitation  we  complied  with  in  less  than  two  weeks.  We 
found  ourselves  seated  in  a  comfortable  room  by  a  good  fire  at  the  old 
'squire's  in  company  with  his  two  eldest  daughters,  young  and  hand- 
some and  old  enough  for  marriage,  but  they  were  not  allotted  for  us. 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  the  visit  was  a  very  agreeable  one,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  my  marriage  four  years  after  to  the  third  daughter,  Mary, 
whom  I  now  saw  at  this  visit  for  the  first  time,  and  she  was  then  about 
fourteen  years  of  age. 

When  I  and  David  returned  to  uncle's  from  our  visit  to  'Squire  Kith- 
cart's,  which  was  on  the  14th  of  January,  we  found  a  card  of  invitation 
for  each  of  us  to  attend  on  the  i6th  at  the  house  of  John  Clark  to  be 
present  at  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter  Peggy  to  Alexander 
Johnston,  .store-keeper  in  Connellsville.  We  attended  at  the  time  and 
place,  and  had  a  very  fine  time  of  it. 

About  the  first  week  in  February  I  left  my  uncle's  and  returned 
home,  and  found  my  mother  and  brother's  all  well.  While  I  was  away 
at  Fayette  my  brother  William  made  and  put  up  a  turning  lathe,  and  my 
brother  Thomas  turned  the  wood  for  several  sets  of  split-bottomed 
chairs. 

William  made  and  set  the  backs,  and  after  the  backs  had  got  their  set, 
he  put  them  together  and  made  splits  and  put  bottoms  in  the  chairs. 
Some  of.  these  chairs  they  sold,  and  some  they  kept  for  our  own  use, 
and  one  or  two  of  them  I  have  in  use  at  this  time,  now  more  than  forty 
years.  Besides  making  the  chairs  they  did  other  work  useful  for  our- 
selves and  neighbors,  and  thus  the  winter  of  18 12  passed. 


1812.]  FAMILY  HISTURV.  99 

PREPARING   THE    OLD   SAW   MILL. 

The  fall  before,  as  soon  as  they  moved  to  Rush  Run  the  boys, 
WilHam,  John  and  Thomas,  with  the  help  of  Benjamin  Tingley,  began 
the  repairing  of  the  old  saw-mill  by  making  a  new  fore-bay  and  penn- 
stock,  and  a  new  wheel,  pitman  and  mill  saw.  One  day  while  John  was 
at  work  he  jumped  down  from  the  penn-stock  on  a  pile  of  dirt,  and  so 
jarred  his  liver  and  caused  such  injury  to  that  organ  that  he  did  but  little 
work  for  more  than  a  year  after  that,  up  to  February,  1813,  when  he 
was  drafted.  He  then  served  his  tour  of  duty  in  the  militia,  in  Captain 
Gilmore's  Company  of  250  men,  who  were  stationed  for  three  months  at 
Lower  Sandusky,  now  Fremont,  where  they  built  Fort  Stevenson. 

As  soon  as  the.ground  was  sufficiently  thawed,  the  spring  of  1812,  the 
work  of  repairing  the  saw-mill  went  on  rapidly,  until  it  was  soon  ready 
for  sawing,  and  I  was  appointed  sawyer,  and  the  saw  was  set  running. 

BUILDING   THE    RUSH   RUN   MILL. 

The  object  in  getting  the  saw-mill  into  running  order  first  was  to  saw 
lumber  to  build  the  new  merchant  flouring-mill,  as  we  had  purchased 
this  property  for  that  purpose.  William  and  a  hired  man  cut  the  tim- 
ber, and  Thomas  hauled  the  logs  to  the  saw-mill  with  an  ox-team,  while 
I  sawed  the  logs  into  thick  and  thin  plank  and  boards  to  make  mill 
wheels,  weather-boards,  flooring,  plank  and  scantling  for  framing  and 
joist  for  the  mill. 

As  soon  as  the  water  had  dried  away,  I  and  Thomas  set  in  to  open 
up  the  seat  for  the  mill,  and  then  to  digging  out  the  tail  race  and  wheel 
pits, — then  the  raising  of  flat  stones,  which  were  very  plenty  in  the 
channel  of  the  Run.  I  then  went  a  mile  up  a  run  called  Dumpy  Run 
and  split  large  free  stone  for  a  part  of  the  mill  walls,  and  Thomas,  with 
the  oxen,  hauled  them.  After  harvest  a  stone-mason  was  employed  at 
one  dollar  a  day,  and  he  and  William  built  the  stone  work  of  the  mill 
walls.  These  stone  walls  made  up  the  first  story  of  the  mill,  and  they 
were  finished  before  the  close  of  November.  The  winter  came  and 
passed  without  any  special  occurrences.  I  attended  the  saw-mill  when 
there  was  water,  which  was  the  case  in  and  about  the  middle  of  January, 
1813.  It  rained  at  this  time  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then  harder  rain  for 
two  days  more,  which,  with   the  melting  of  the   snow,  raised   the  Ohio 


100  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1813. 

River  nearly  as  high  as  the   pumpkin   freshet  of  the    iSth  of  November, 
iSio. 

THE    WAR    OF    l8l2. 

This  rain  in  January,  1813,  was  very  general,  especially  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  for  our  troops  in  the  northwest  under  General 
Harrison  at  this  time,  lay  in  the  Black  Swamp,  some  twenty  miles 
beyond  Lower  Sandusky,  where,  from  the  nature  of  the  ground,  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  troops  could  find  dry  ground  to  stand  on,  much 
less  to  sleep  on  at  night.  The  hardships  endured  by  these  men  during 
that  winter  campaign  were  such  as  not  only  to  try  men's  souls,  but  to 
try  their  mortal  bodies  also,  for  many  of  these  brave  men  died  on  their 
way  home,  and  many  of  them  died  a  lingering  death  after  they  reached 
home,  while  many  of  them  are  still  living,  and  have  obtained  a  bounty 
land  warrant,  calling  for  eighty  acres  of  land,  which  was  obtained  under 
a  law  passed  September  28,  1850,  and  well  they  all  deserved  it,  and 
much  more  had  they  got  it. 

By  the  1st  of  February,  1813,  orders  were  brought  from  General 
Harrison  for  a  draft  to  be  made,  and  sent  on  in  time  to  relieve  those 
whose  time  would  expire  by  the  month  of  March.  I  had  remained 
clear  of  the  muster-roll  from  the  time  I  was  eighteen  years  of  age  till 
the  private  muster  of  September,  1812,  a  period  of  five  years.  But  as 
soon  as  it  was  discovered  that  men  would  be  drafted  and  taken  out  to 
stand  a  tour  of  duty,  it  made  each  man  that  was  enrolled  be  anxious  to 
have  every  other  man  he  knew  enrolled  ready  for  a  draft  as  well  as  he, 
and  this  got  me  enrolled. 

At  the  time  of  the  first  private  muster,  the  first  Friday  of  September, 
the  first  draft  had  been  made,  and  Captain  David  Peck  and  Lieutenant 
Joseph  Davis,  of  our  company,  had  gone  to  the  northwest  in  command 
of  the  first  drafted  troops,  which  left  our  company  bare  of  officers. 
We  had  Ensign  Charles  Bucy,  who  did  not  know  a  letter  in  the  alphabet, 
and  we  had  but  one  non-commissioned  officer,  except  one,  Daniel 
McDade,  who  had  been  appointed  First  Sergeant,  but  being  a  very  poor 
scholar  he  was  in  no  wise  qualified  for  that  position  even,  as  he  had  to 
perform  what  was  called  orderly  duty,  and  hence  was  called  Orderly 
Serjeant. 


1813.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  101 

When  the  draft  of  February  was  made,  my  brother  John,  who  stood 
in  the  third  class,  was  called  on,  with  some  others  from  Captain  Peck's 
company,  and  they  were  ordered  to  report  at  Steubenville,  where  a  Court 
of  Inquiry  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  such  as  thought  they 
ought  to  be  excused  because  they  were  invalids. 

But  scarcely  a  man  got  off  from  these  officers,  as  they  thought  it  best 
to  try  the  supposed  invalids  to  see  if  they  could  stand  travelling,  and  if 
they  would  give  out  on  the  way,  or  after  they  reached  camp,  it  would  be 
time  enough  to  discharge  them  as  invalids.  My  brother  John  applied  to 
the  Board  that  sat  in  Steubenville  on  the  ground  that  he  had  been  for 
fifteen  months  at  least  afflicted  with  rheumatism  and  liver  complaint,  so 
that  he  could  perform  no  hard  labor  at  home.  He  was,  however,  sent 
forward  on  trial,  but  we  feared  he  would  give  out  before  they  would  reach 
Cleveland;  but  he  wrote  us  from  that  place  that  he  had  stood  the  journey 
of  one  hundred  miles  so  far  better  than  he  had  expected,  and  said  that 
he  had  improved  in  health  each  day  as  he  marched  onward. 

He  continued  to  amend  during  the  whole  six  months  of  his  term  of 
service,  and  it  continued  so  until  he  reached  home  on  the  19th  of  August 
following.  And  the  very  next  day  both  he  and  his  lieutenant,  Barkimer, 
about  the  same  time  of  the  day,  took  the  so-called  fever. 

The  e'xcitement  was  over,  and  there  was  nothing  to  excite  or  stimulate 
them,  and  it  shows  that  mankind  are  all  acted  upon  by  something  like 
the  same  motives  in  action  and  the  same  hopes  and  fears 

After  Captain  Peck  got  home,  my  brother  John  wrote  to  us  from  camp 
at  Fort  Stephenson,  suggesting  that  if  any  of  us  were  drafted  we  had 
better  try  to  secure  a  position  as  sergeant,  or  even  as  corporal,  rather 
than  come  out  as  a  private  soldier,  and  under  this  persuasion  I  rode  over 
to  see  Captain  Peck,  and  inquired  of  him  if  there  were  any  openings  in 
his  company  for.  sergeants. 

MY   PART   IN   THE   WAR. 

His  answer  was  that  there  was  but  one  sergeant,  and  that  was  Daniel 
McDade.  I  then  asked  him  for  the  post  of  second  sergeant,  and 
said  that  my  brother  Thomas  wished  the  position  of  third  sergeant. 
This  he  promised  me  if  I  would  act  as  orderly,  as  McDade  could  not 
perform  the  duties  of  first  sergeant.     I  promised  that  I  would  do  so, 


102  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1813. 

provided  I  should  be  exempt  from  manual  exercise  on  the  muster-field, 
and  said  I  would  be  willing  to  make  out  a  muster-roll  spring  and  fall, 
call  the  same  twice  each  muster-day,  mark  and  return  delinquents,  keep 
the  class-roll,  detail  the  men  drafted,  make  out  a  list  of  their  names, 
hand  the  list  of  the  names  thus  made  out  to  the  other  sergeants,  and 
order  them  to  go  and  notify  the  men  thus  drafted  to  meet  on  a  certain 
day  named  at  Steubenville,  with  knapsack  and  blanket,  ready  for 
marching. 

To  this  Captain  Peck  readily  agreed,  and  directed  me  to  make  out  a 
sergeant's  commission  for  myself,  and  another  for  my  brother  Thomas  as 
third  sergeant,  and  these  he  signed  and  I  returned  home. 

Being  thus  commissioned  as  sergeants  kept  Thomas  and  me  from 
being  drafted  till  the  war  was  over,  in  March,  1815,  nor  could  we  have 
been  called  out  for  a  long  time  to  come,  for  the  rules  of  the  army, 
adopted  and  issued  uniformly  all  over  the  United  States,  required  the 
first  sergeant  to  go  with  the  captain,  the  third  to  go  with  the  lieutenant, 
and  the  second  and  fourth  to  go  with  the  ensign.  But  the  captain  and 
lieutenant  had  gone  and  served  their  turn,  and  the  ensign  had  been  but 
recently  chosen  and  commissioned,  and  since  there  were  so  many  older- 
commissioned  ensigns  in  the  different  companies  that  must  take  their 
turn  according  to  the  date  of  their  commissions,  the  war  might  have 
lasted  si.x  years  more  and  neither  I  nor  Thomas  would  have  been 
called  out. 

Fort  Meigs  was  besieged  the  early  part  of  May,  18 13,  and  this  caused 
General  Harrison  to  send  orders  throughout  the  State  for  heavy  drafts 
of  the  State  militia ;  and  although  we  had  had  no  draft  since  my  brother 
John  was  drafted,  and  he  stood  in  the  third  class,  yet  to  obtain  four 
men  the  quota  required  out  of  Peck's  company,  we  had  to  pass  over  the 
whole  class-roll  before  we  obtained  the  number.  My  brother  William 
stood  the  sixth  man  in  the  eighth  class,  and  he  obeyed  the  call,  made 
ready  his  knapsack  and  blanket,  and  reported  at  Steubenville,  where 
they  spent  three  or  four  days  in  preparation  before  the  troops  could 
march.  Finally,  the  British  and  Indians  raised  the  siege,  and  General 
Harrison  sent  out  messengers  countermanding  the  draft,  and  so  William 
came  marching  home  very  unexpectedly  to  us,  as  we  were  not  looking 
for  him.     But  right  glad  we  were  that  he  had  returned,  for  we  had 


1813.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  103 

rather  paid  two  substitutes  than  that  he  should  go,  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  he  was  our  head  workman,  as  carpenter,  joiner  and  mason 
at  the  work  of  building  the  mill,  the  work  of  which  had  now  made  con- 
siderable progress. 

JACOB   ZOLL   THE   MILLWRIGHT. 

The  millwright,  Jacob  ZoU,  had  been  employed  at  jSi.25  a  day  to 
perform  the  wheel  work  of  the  mill,  and  he  had  begun  his  work  the 
15th  of  March,  181 3. 

I  was  kept  sawing  posts,  sills  and  caps  for  the  forebay  leading  from 
the  forebay  to  the  trunk,  and  the  forebay  over  the  water-wheel ;  also 
timber  for  the  husk,  and  flooring  for  the  same  three  inches  thick,  cants 
for  the  water-wheel,  shafts  for  the  bolting  and  screen  works,  and  a  great 
variety  of  other  necessary  sawing,  till  the  water  failed,  which  was  not  till 
the  latter  part  of  June. 

William  and  a  hired  man  by  the  name  of  John  Jordan,  who  was  hired 
for  six  months  at  $10.50  a  month,  worked  at  hewing  frame  timber  and 
making  the  shingles,  and  framing  the  mill-house.  We  were  all  ready 
to  raise  by  July  the  5th,  and  on  that  day  and  the  next  I  went  around 
the  neighborhood  and  asked  hands  to  come  and  help  raise  the  frame  of 
the  mill-house  on  the  7th. 

RAISING    THE    RUSH    RUN    MILL. 

July  7th,  1813,  more  than  forty  hands  came  and  assisted  in  raising 
the  mill,  and  no  injury  was  done  to  any  one,  and  it  was  finished  before 
night. 

Immediately  after  the  raising  of  the  frame  I  and  William  proceeded 
to  driving  on  weather-boards,  and  finally  I  and  Thomas  finished  driving 
on  the  weather-boarding,  while  William  and  Jordan  finished  riving 
and  shaving  the  shingles.  By  August  the  mill  was  enclosed,  and  the 
windows  and  doors  hung,  and  by  this  time  Jacob  Zoll  had  made  such 
progress  with  the  millwright  work  that  the  water-wheel  was  framed, 
and  we  commenced  putting  it  together  on  the  shaft.  It  was  framed  in 
eight  pieces.  Each  piece  had  a  mortise  fitted  on  to  a  tenon  on  the 
end  of  an  arm.  We  had  put  on  three  parts  out  of  the  eight,  and  had 
brought  the  fourth  forward,  when  I  stepped  on  the  scaffold  to  attach  the 


104  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1813. 

fourth  piece  in  its  place,  and  just  then  a  padlock  broke,  and  down  I 
went  nine  feet  and  lit  on  my  feet,  and  away  went  the  parts  of  the  wheel 
attached  to  the  arms,  and  there  it  played  back  and  forth  coming  very 
close  to  me,  as  I  had  but  one  foot  from  the  wall  against  which  I  stood 
with  my  back  close  against  it,  till  the  wheel  stopped  its  motion.  Had 
it  struck  me  one  blow  as  it  came  close  past  me,  it  must  have  killed  me 
on  the  spot,  and  this  was  the  third  time  I  was  spared  from  the  jaws  of 
death, — once  when  I  fell  into  the  stream  in  my  childhood,  as  stated  on 
page  43,  and  again  during  the  summer  of  1812,  when  we  were  building 
up  the  stone  walls  of  the  mill.  After  the  walls  of  the  wheel-pit  were 
raised  nine  feet  high,  a  scaffold  was  thrown  across,  and  we  had  brought 
on  it  about  two  or  three  tons  of  stone,  when  William  directed  me  to  go 
down  below  and  throw  up  the  spalls  to  fill  in  the  wall.  I  had  no  sooner 
got  down  in  there  than  some  of  the  pudlocks  broke,  and  down  went  that 
end  of  the  scaffold  next  to  me,  and  I  was  so  near  being  caught  by  it 
that  the  ends  of  the  boards  next  to  me  scraped  gently  down  the  calves 
of  my  legs.  One  foot  further  back,  and  the  weight  of  the  stone  would 
have  killed  me  instantly ;  but,  thanks  be  to  God  !  he  preserved  me,  and 
had  more  work  for  me  to  perform  thereafter. 

RELICS    OF    RUSH    RUN    MILL. 

(I  have  in  my  possession  now,  February  1 1,  1889,  some  pieces  of  the 
wood  of  that  old  mill,  the  building  of  which  father  has  described  so 
minutely, — a  piece  of  the  weather-boarding,  which  father  sawed  and 
nailed  on, —  it  is  half  inch  poplar.  Also  a  piece  of  the  shafting  of  the 
bolting  machine,  which  is  walnut,  and  a  piece  of  that  very  old  wheel 
described  on  the  preceding  page,  which  is  white  oak.  I  have  also  a 
piece  of  a  log  of  the  old  house  in  which  father  lived  there  at  Rush  Run, 
to  which  he  brought  his  first  bride,  Mary  Kithcart,  and  where  their  five 
children  were  born — the  same  house  to  which  he  brought  his  second  bride, 
Jane  Hindman,  and  where  their  first  child  was  born.  It  was  on  Wednes- 
day, October  3,  1 888,  that  I  visited  that  old  place  for  the  first  time,  and 
brought  away  those  pieces  of  wood  as  relics.  My  visit  was  made  in 
company  with  my  brothers  Robert  and  John.  John,  like  myself,  had 
never  been  there,  and  Robert  had  never  been  there  since  the  family  had 
moved  away  when  he  was  a  little  boy.     The  old  house  in  which  father 


1813.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  105 

lived,  which  stood  just  above  the  mill  and  on  the  same  side  of  the  Run 
as  the  mill,  was  entirely  gone,  and  only  one  log  remained  which  I  could 
find.  The  mill  was  still  standing,  and  in  reasonable  preservation, 
although  it  was  all  in  ruins  and  disorder,  and  had  not  been  used  for 
fifteen  years.  I  can  recognize  everything  about  its  construction  from 
father's  description  here  given,  and  there  was  the  old  wheel,  mostly 
rotted  away,  but  evidently  in  eight  parts,  and  some  of  the  parts  sound 
yet,  especially  the  great  shaft,  the  wood  work  of  which  was  beautifully 
done,  and  all  the  work  about  the  mill  showed  very  fine  carpenter  work. 
-T.  J.  S.) 

DOMESTIC   ECONOMY. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1813,  my  brother  John  was  out  at  Fort 
Stephenson,  near  where  Fremont  now  stands,  serving  his  tour  of  duty. 
William  and  Thomas  were  from  home  on  business,  and  I  was  some 
distance  from  the  house,  say  forty  perch,  boiling  sugar-water,  when  my 
mother  called  me  to  come  home.  I  obeyed  the  call  and  went  to  the 
house,  and  was  told  that  that  young  woman  sitting  there  wished  to  be 
employed  to  do  housework,  and  mother  said  she  wished  me  to  bargain 
with  her,  as  Mrs.  Fleming  had  sent  her  there  to  get  a  home.  I  asked 
the  girl  what  wages  she  wished  to  have,  and  she  answered  that  she  was 
willing  to  take  seventy  five  cents  a  week.  I  said  that  we  would  pay 
her  that  at  the  end  of  every  week,  or  any  time  she  wished  to  have  it, 
and  she  agreed  to  come  and  begin  work  the  next  Monday. 

According  to  promise  she  came,  and  continued  diligent  and  faithful 
for  one  year,  at  which  time  she  put  in  for  higher  wages,  and  said  if  she 
did  not  get  it  she  would  leave,  for  at  Joseph  Steer's  she  was  offered 
^i.OO  a  week.  I  asked  her  what  wages  would  satisfy  her,  and  she  said 
eighty  cents  a  week.  I  felt  sure  she  would  have  asked  us  more,  as  she 
had  such  an  offer  from  Steers',  but  she  explained  that  she  would  rather 
take  eighty  cents  a  week  with  our  work  than  ^i.oo  a  week  and  do 
Steers'  work. 

I  was  satisfied  and  promised  her  eighty  cents  a  week,  and  she  was 
ever  after  that  content  with  her  wages,  and  lived  with  my  mother  in  all 
eight  years, — one  year  at  seventy-five  cents  a  week  and  seven  years  at 
eighty  cents  a  week,  and  the  amount  paid  in  cash  for  the  eight  years 
amounted  in  all  to  ^330.20. 


106  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1814. 

The  fall  season  of  the  year  1813  brought  round  its  abundance  of 
work.  After  the  mill-house  was  weather-boarded  and  shingled,  the 
doors  made  and  hung,  and  window-sash  and  glass  in,  the  hurry  was  to 
frame  the  husk  and  put  it  up,  and  next  to  plow  and  groove  boards  and 
lay  floors,  and  make  stairs  and  put  them  up.  I  jointed  boards,  and 
Thomas  and  John  Jordan  plowed  and  grooved,  and  William  laid  the 
floors. 

As  soon  as  the  mill-wright,  Jacob  Zoll,  had  finished  the  water-wheel, 
the  cog-wheel,  the  counter- wheel  and  wallower,  and  trundle-head,  he 
then  began  to  make  heads  for  the  two  merchant  bolts,  and  then  William 
and  John  had  to  dress  the  bolting  shafts,  and  next  shafts  and  gearing 
must  be  made  for  the  rolling  screen.  And  next  the  five  feet  Laurel 
Hill  stones  must  be  faced  and  dressed  ready  for  grinding  wheat,  rye, 
corn  and  buckwheat. 

THE    MILL   AT   LAST  STARTED. 

All  the  work  was  now  so  far  accomplished  as  to  start  the  mill  to 
grinding  by  January  3,  18 14.  This  grinding  process  was  new  to  us  all, 
— not  one  of  us  knew  for  some  time  at  what  gauge  wheat  ought  to  be 
ground,  but  all  other  kinds  of  grain,  such  as  corn,  rye  and  oats  we 
soon  learned  how  to  grind.  I  was  to  be  the  miller,  although  Thomas 
wanted  it,  but  the  vote  carried  that  I  should  be  the  miller;  William 
and  John  did  not  want  it,  for  they  could  make  a  living  at  other 
mechanical  work. 

For  two  years  Thomas  had  been  driving  the  oxen,  hauling  timber, 
stones  and  sawed  lumber,  and  no  doubt  by  this  time  he  was  tired  of 
driving  and  hauling,  but  poor  fellow,  he  knew  nothing  about  the  diffi- 
culty of  attending  mill  to  grind  and  bolt  grain.  Attending  saw-mill 
was  not  so  difficult,  but  I  knew  as  little  about  the  difficulties  of  milling 
at  that  time  as  Thomas  did.  And  I  have  many  a  time  since  that 
thought,  that  could  I  have  known  all  the  ills  that  attended  a  miller's 
life  and  occupation,  as  it  was  pursued  at  that  time,  I  would  have  given 
it  up,  and  tried  some  other  way  of  making  a  livelihood. 


1814.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  107 


DIFFICULTIES   IN   A   MILLERS   LIFE- 

The  first  thing  that  makes  milling  disagreeable  is  that  he  must  be  a 
lackey  for  every  one,  and  then  he  has  a  thankless  public  to  wait  upon, 
and  let  him  do  his  best  to  please,  and  still  there  will  be  complaints. 
The  next  difficulty  was  the  hard  and  oppressive  work  night  and  day. 

The  loss  of  sleep  is  a  great  drawback  to  the  miller,  and  I  often 
thought  that  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest  once  a  week,  for  both  mind 
and  body,  was  one  of  the  best  institutions  in  the  world,  nor  did  I  ever 
before  that  reflect  much  about  it  as  a  benefit  and  blessing  to  mankind 
if  well  improved  I  believe  that  a  person  brought  up  to  the  mill 
business  from  boyhood  in  these  days,  where  machinery  of  all  kinds  is 
erected  and  used,  could  stand  the  occupation  better  than  if  taken  into 
the  mill  at  twenty-five  years  of  age  as  I  was,  always  used  to  the  sun- 
shine and  heat  to  draw  the  sweat  out,  and  compelled  to  miller  without 
elevators  or  hopper-boy,  and  every  barrel  of  flour  to  be  well  shovel- 
packed  before  it  was  adjusted  and  pressed. 

It  is  now  easier  by  one-half  for  one  man  to  attend  a  mill  than  it  was 
for  two  men  to  do  it  when  I  first  began,  forty  years  ago,  for  it  is  just 
forty  years  this  day  since  I  first  began  to  attend  mill,  on  January  3, 
1 8 14,  and  this  day  is  January  3,  1854. 

I  often  think  that  if  I  had  kept  myself  at  the  farming  business,  with 
my  temperate  habits,  it  would  have  been  better,  for  I  had  a  constitution 
given  me  by  the  Creator,  if  care  had  been  taken  of  it,  that  might  have 
lasted  ninety  or  one  hundred  years. 

VALUE   OF   A   GOOD   CONSTITUTION. 

But  like  the  prodigal  son  in  the  gospel,  I  got  my  portion,  and  a 
goodly  one  it  was,  and  spent  it,  not,  indeed,  in  riotous  living,  but 
foolishly  for  want  of  care  taken  of  it  as  I  should  have  done. 

(These  words  were  written  by  father  when  he  was  sixty-five  years 
old,  and  he  lived  in  the  best  of  health  for  just  twenty  years  longer,  and 
for  fifty  years  before  his  death  he  had  no  serious  illness,  showing  that 
his  constitution  was  a  remarkable  one. — T.  J.  S.) 

It  may  be  asked  how  I  injured  my  good  constitution,  and  I  answer: 
First,  by  leaving  the  outdoor  work,  which  is  generally  performed  in  the 


]08  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1814. 

pure  air,  and  often  under  the  rays  of  a  hot  sun  which   made   the  sweat 
flow  freely. 

Secondly,  the  indoor  work  in  the  mill  was  irregular;  sometimes  too 
much  power  of  body  and  mind  must  be  exerted  and  sometimes  not 
enough  ;  and  be  the  mill  work  hard  or  easy  or  none  at  all,  it  rarely 
brought  the  sweat  out  of  the  body.  Thirdly,  attending  mill  and  saw- 
mill required  at  times  a  greater  amount  of  strength  than  was  needed  in 
the  farming  business. 


TESTS   OF   PHYSICAL  STRENGTH. 

It  was  common  in  those  days,  forty  years  ago,  to  use  large  bags  that 
would  hold  usually  four  or  five  bushels,  and  then  sometimes  to  use  a 
coarse  bed-tick  or  a  sheet  made  of  coarse  tow  linen  sewed  up  and  filled 
with  wheat. 

And  then  attending  saw-mill  for  nineteen  years  by  turns,  with  heavy 
logs  to  roll  on  and  heavy  plank  and  joists  and  scantling  to  carry  and 
throw  off,  and  besides,  oftentimes  in  the  fall,  winter  or  spring  season, 
getting  wet  about  the  wheel-pits,  made  it  hard.  But  above  and  beyond 
all  this,  was  foolish  heavy  lifting  where  there  was  no  need  for  it,  only  for 
young  men  to  try  their  strength,  and  have  it  to  boast  of.  Trials  of 
strength  at  mills  were  various,  but  the  most  common  was  who  could  lift 
the  most  fifty-sixes  tied  together,  and  raise  a  fifty-six  in  the  right  hand 
higher  than  the  head  by  straightening  up  the  arm,  which  I  have  often 
done  with  a  seven-pound  weight  laid  on  the  fifty-six.  The  next  test 
was  to  lay  down  the  lever  or  handle  of  the  press  by  which  flour  was 
packed  into  the  barrels,  take  hold  of  the  press  with  both  hands  and  place 
the  knee  under  the  hands,  and  move  up  the  press  so  as  to  raise  up  the 
lever  off  the  floor  to  any  given  height.  This  exploit,  which  required 
strength  of  bone,  muscle  and  sinew,  I  have  also  performed  hundreds  of 
times.  One  purpose  which  I  had  was  to  have  it  said  that  I  could  out-do 
any  man  that  came  to  the  mill,  and  I  did  do  it,  for  none  that  came  to  the 
mill  and  made  the  trials  could  lift  the  fifty-six  above  their  heads  with 
any  more  than  one  pound  on  it,  and  if  they  could  lift  the  handle  or  lever 
of  the  flour-press  off  the  floor,  it  was  as  much  as  any  of  them  could  do, 
while  I  could  raise  the  same  off  the  floor  with  a  seven  pound  on  the  end 


1814.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  109 

of  it,  as  well  as  raise  the  fifty-six   above  my  head  with  the  seven  pound 
weight  added. 

I  had  four  brothers,  stout  young  men,  and  yet  none  of  them  could  take 
a  dead,  heavy  lift  with  me.  I  remember  about  forty  years  ago,  when  I 
was  in  my  prime,  that  I  was  sitting  at  the  table  writing,  and  it  was  cold 
winter  weather.  William  and  Thomas  went  out  to  the  wood-yard  to 
bring  in  a  back-log,  but  they  concluded  the  log  ivas  too  large  for  their 
strength,  and  under  that  impression  William  came  to  the  door  and  called 
to  me  to  come  and  help.  I  answered,  but  wishing  to  finish  the  sentence, 
I  wrote  on  for  a  minute  or  so,  but  he,  becoming  impatient,  spoke  very 
short,  which  had  the  effect  to  rouse  me  into  action.  I  sprang  to  my  feet 
and  walked  out  quick,  took  hold  of  one  end  of  the  log,  and  raised  it  up 
on  the  other  end,  and  then  took  a  tight  grip  of  it  in  the  middle,  and 
stepped  off  with  it  into  the  house,  and  hid  it  to  its  place  for  a  back-log 
in  the  fire-place.  William  and  Thomas  walked  in  after  me  looking  a 
little  disappointed,  while  I  turned  round  and  begged  them  not  to  trouble 
me  the  next  time  to  aid  them  to  put  a  log  on  the  fire  that  one  man  could 
carry,  since  there  were  two  of  them  to  do  it.  William  chided  me  for  my 
foolhardy  work,  as  he  was  pleased  to  call  it,  and  told  me  I  was  injuring 
myself  but  all  the  cautions  I  got  were  of  no  avail,  for  lift  I  would  and 
lift  I  did  until  my  back  gave  out  the  fall  season  of  1830,  and  from  that 
time  to  this  it  has  been  but  little  that  I  could  lift  or  carry  compared  with 
what  I  could  do  up  to  the  time  I  was  forty  years  of  age. 

LOSS  OF  SLEEP. 

But  there  was  one  drawback  to  the  milling  business  which  was  of  no 
ordinary  kind,  and  that  was  the  loss  of  sleep.  I  often  thought  that  if  I 
could  be  relieved  from  mill  work  and  mill  watch  each  night  through  the 
week,  Sunday  excepted,  and  commence  work  at  daylight  each  morning, 
how  happy  I  would  be  ;  but  instead  of  that  I  have  often  and  repeatedly 
run  the  mill  day  and  night  for  three  weeks,  Sundays  excepted,  and  kept 
two  pairs  of  mill-stones  grinding  all  the  time.  And  when  the  water  was 
very  flush  I  have  sawed  several  hundred  feet  into  the  bargain,  but  for 
those  three  weeks  it  was  doing  two  men's  work  through  the  day,  to  say 
nothing  about  the  night  watch  and  night  labor,  which  was  very  consider- 


110  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1814. 

able  for  the  first  eight  years,  for  it  was  during  that  period  that  we  had  no 
elevators  to  carry  up  wheat  and  flour. 

LABOR-SAVING   MACHINERY   NEEDED. 

Both  wheat  and  flour  had  to  be  taken  up  by  means  of  the  hoist  rope  ; 
and  then,  aside  from  all  this,  the  first  two  years  we  had  but  one  run  of 
stone,  and  no  country  bolt,  and  no  hopper-boy.  Both  merchant  and 
country  work  had  to  be  ground  on  the  one  pair  of  stones,  and  all  wheat 
and  buckwheat  had  to  be  passed  through  the  fine  cloths,  and  must  be 
hoisted  to  the  upper  floor  for  that  purpose,  and  all  this  was  man-killing 
work.     I  would  not  do  it  again,  if  I  could,  for  all  I  made  by  it. 

But  under  the  progress  of  the  times,  no  man  will,  I  think,  experience 
the  hardships  that  I  did  while  I  worked  at  it.  But  others  had  expe- 
rienced harder  times  than  I  had.  For  a  proof,  Jacob  Lowry  built  a 
grist-mill  on  Dunbar  Creek,  when  I  was  a  boy  about  ten  years  old,, 
about  1799,  with  two  run  of  Laurel  Hill  stones  and  a  country  bolt.  But 
all  the  flour  had  to  be  carried  up-stairs  on  the  miller's  back,  and  pushed 
into  the  country  bolt  by  hand ;  and  if  any  flour  was  packed  into  barrels 
for  sale,  it  had  to  be  well  shovel-packed,  and  then  a  cloth  laid  over  the 
top  of  the  barrel,  and  the  flour  well  packed  or  hammered  down  with  a 
fifty-six.  I  remember,  at  the  same  period  that  Lowry  built  his  mill, 
that  a  man  by  the  name  of  Sturgeon  had  a  mill  on  Redstone  Creek, 
three  miles  below  Uniontown,  in  which  he  had  one  pair  of  French  burrs 
and  a  merchant  bolt ;  but  he  had  no  other  method  of  packing  flour  in 
barrels  but  by  beating  it  in  by  a  fifty-six. 

Yet  notwithstanding  the  want  of  fixtures  and  improvements  on  mills 
on  the  western  side  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  still  on  the  eastern 
side  many  improvements  had  been  made,  but  for  these  patent-rights 
had  been  obtained,  and  many  millers  did  without  rather  than  pay  a  dear 
rate  for  a  license  to  use  the  new  improvement. 

PATENT-RIGHTS. 

Old  Oliver  Evans  and  the  EUicotts  were  among  the  first  to  improve 
mills.  Oliver  Evans,  as  long  ago  as  1794,  obtained  a  patent  for  eleva- 
tors and  hopper-boy,  and  for  the  improved  plan  of  packing  196  lbs.  of 
flour  into  a  barrel  without  using  a  fifty-six  to  beat  it  in.     His  patent 


1814.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  Ill 

expired  in  1808,  and  after  an  interval  of  three  years  he  got  his  patent 
renewed,  commencing  back  at  the  time  his  first  patent  expired.  Benja- 
min Ladd,  formerly  of  Smithfleld,  now  deceased,  informed  me  that  he 
fell  heir  to  his  father's  mill  near  Richmond,  Va.,  a  short  time  before  the 
first  patent  of  Oliver  Evans  expired,  and  knowing  that  his  father  had 
refused  to  pay  Evans  ;$300  for  privilege  to  use  the  packer,  elevators  and 
hopper-boy,  concluded  to  wait  for  the  expiration  of  the  patent,  and  did 
so.  Then  in  the  recess  of  two  or  three  years  before  the  second  patent 
was  obtained,  Ladd  erected  all  the  machinery  patented  by  Evans,  not 
expecting  any  after-clap. 

But  Evans  brought  suit  against  Ladd  and  all  others  that  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  expiration  of  the  first  patent,  and  had  erected  their 
machinery  in  the  interval  before  the  second  patent  was  granted.  All 
these  suits  were  carried  up  to  the  United  States  Court,  and  were  decided 
in  favor  of  Oliver  Evans,  which  was  thought  strange  at  the  time  by  all 
men  who  took  any  notice  of  or  interest  in  the  matter,  knowing  that  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  the  passage  of  any  ex  post  facto 
law,  and  this  law  passed  by  Congress,  by  which  Oliver  Evans  renewed 
his  patent  dating  from  the  expiration  of  the  first,  and  lapping  back  over 
the  interval,  was  considered  such  a  law,  by  which  millers  who  had 
innocently  erected  the  improvements  in  the  interval,  when  no  restraint 
was  on  them,  were  compelled  very  unjustly  to  pay. 

My  brother  John  was  in  Pittsburgh  the  spring  season  of  18 19,  and 
knowing  that  the  second  patent  of  Oliver  Evans  would  expire  in  1822,  I 
instructed  him  to  inquire  of  young  Oliver  Evans,  who  at  that  time  had 
sole  management  of  his  deceased  father's  affairs,  what  he  would  ask  for 
the  privilege  of  erecting  and  using  the  elevators  and  hopper  boy,  and  his 
answer  was  no  less  than  $300. 

The  elevators  were  not  erected  till  the  fall  season  of  1822,  at  which 
time  we  knew  that  the  patent  of  Oliver  Evans  had  expired. 

After  the  mill  started,  January  3,  1814,  I  being  appointed  miller,  knew 
nothing  about  the  nicety  of  grinding  wheat,  and  it  required  me  several 
weeks  before  I  had  learned  to  judge  by  the  feel  of  the  hand,  but  it  was  a 
nicety  of  judgment  that  had  to  be  gained  by  experience. 

The  first  merchant  work  that  we  made  on  the  new  mill  was  in  the 
month  of  March,  18 14,  and  amounted   to   only  sixty-five  barrels.     The 


112  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1814. 

wheat  was  purchased  the  November  of  i8i 3  at  ninety  cents  a  bushel, 
but  wheat  raised  through  the  winter  to  be  worth  $1.00  a  bushel.  These 
sixty-five  barrels  my  brother  William  sold  some  time  in  the  month  of 
May  to  a  man  named  Murdock  from  Pittsburgh  at  $7.00  a  barrel,  on 
which  he  paid  down  ;$iOO,  and  as^reed  to  pay  the  balance  when  the  flour 
was  delivered  on  the  river  bank  at  the  mouth  of  Rush  Run,  which  was 
to  be  in  two  or  three  weeks,  but  time  passed  on  and  no  word  of  Murdock, 
and  flour  was  falling  in  price.  But  we  kept  the  flour  Until  some  time 
in  July,  when  William  thought  it  best  to  sell  it  and  not  wait  any  longer 
for  Murdock,  and  being  offered  $5.87  a  barrel  by  Bob  Patterson,  he 
took  it.  But  some  time  in  August  Murdock  appeared  through  an  agent 
and  demanded  the  flour,  but  we  claimed  that  the  contract  was  void,  as 
we  had  kept  the  flour  a  month  or  two  longer  than  we  had  agreed  to  do, 
and,  to  make  ourselves  safe,  we  had  sold  it  again.  Murdock  brought 
suit  against  us  at  Steubenville,  and  he  feed  lawyer  Jennings,  and  we  feed 
old  Ben  Tappan  ;  lawyer  Jennings  had  not  yet  quit  the  law  and  gone  to 
preaching  the  gospel ;  be  that  as  it  may,  the  suit  lingered  in  Court,  and 
at  last  was  ordered  by  the  Court  to  be  stricken  from  the  docket,  after  re- 
maining there  for  a  year  or  two  without  being  pushed  to  a  final  issue. 

We  kept  the  ;$iOo,  and  after  paying  Tappan  his  fee  out  of  it,  and  other 
expenses,  we  were  nothing  the  gainers  ;  it  is  true,  if  Murdock  had  for- 
feited the  $100  manfully  at  first,  then  we  might  have  been  the  gainers, 
but  thus  ended  tne  first  flour  scrape. 

THE   BURSTING   OF  THE   DAM. 

In  August,  1 8 14,  the  water  in  Rush  Run  being  very  scarce,  and  but 
little  chance  to  grind,  except  by  gathering  heads,  as  it  was  called,  I  had 
to  leave  the  mill,  and  in  company  with  my  brother  Thomas,  mount  the 
hill  south  of  the  mill  and  fall  to  work  at  chopping  logs  and  clearing  the 
land  on  twelve  acres  where  Elias  Pegg  the  former  owner  had  very  inju- 
diciously deadened  several  hundred  good  black-oak  and  white-oak  trees, 
very  suitable  for  saw-logs. 

But  they  had  now  been  dead  for  five  or  si.x  years  and  were  good  for 
little  but  to  be  burned.  And  this  was  what  I  and  Thomas  were  em- 
ployed at  for  a  good  many  days,  but  it  so  happened  that  we  were  stopped 
in  our  work  on  the   hill  for  three  weeks.     And  the  cause  was  this :  on 


1814.]  FA  MIL  \  ■  HIS  TO  RY'.  1 1  ^ 

the  1 2th  day  of  August,  1814,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a  large 
thunder  cloud  appeared  in  the  west,  and  another  as  large  at  the  same 
time  appeared  in  the  north. 

They  each  rolled  up  by  swift  degrees,  each  thundering  by  turns  as 
they  came  rolling  onward  and  upward,  and  as  they  rose  higher  and 
higher,  it  evidently  appeared  that  attraction  had  taken  place,  for  as  we 
were  on  one  of  the  highest  hills  in  the  neighborhood,  we  could  see  each 
cloud  drawing  toward  the  other,  and  when  they  became  completely 
joined  or  mingled  together,  soon  the  wind  brought  the  cloud  over  us, 
and  down  the  rain  poured  as  if  it  was  spilled  out  of  buckets.  Old  Sam 
Pegg  was  with  Thomas  and  myself  up  to  the  time  it  began  to  rain, 
which  soon  started  us  down  to  his  house,  about  twenty  perch  away. 

We  had  not  been  in  his  house  more  than  half  an  hour  when  Sam 
Pegg  prognosticated  that  the  way  the  rain  was  pouring  down  the  mill- 
dam  would  be  broken,  and  added  that  he  would  go  and  see,  and  out 
in  the  rain  he  went,  followed  by  Thomas,  and  I  would  not  stay  behind. 
Away  down  the  hill  we  went,  but  before  we  got  quite  in  view  of  the 
breast  of  the  mill-dam,  it  burst  with  a  noise  like  thunder,  sweeping 
clean  by  and  with  the  force  of  the  flood  thirty-four  feet  of  the  breast  of 
the  dam. 

This  stopped  the  grinding  for  some  time,  but  by  hard  and  diligent 
work  in  three  weeks  the  breach  was  made  up,  and  the  spill  of  the  dam 
was  made  sixty-four  feet  wide  instead  of  thirty-four,  which  was  the  old 
width  which  Elias  Pegg  and  Joe  Pumphry  left  it  at  when  they  first  built 
and  started  the  saw-mill.  This  fall  season  was  the  most  wet  and  rainy 
of  an)'  fall  during  the  nineteen  years  that  we  lived  at  Rush  Run,  and 
after  the  mill  was  once  more  set  running,  I  worked  but  little  out  on  the 
farm.  The  winter  of  i8i4and  1815  was  not  so  cold  and  freezing  as 
many  succeeding  winters  proved  to  be,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
grinding  done  through  the  winter. 

During  that  winter  and  spring  my  brother  Thomas  was  employed  in 
hauling  saw-logs,  and  having  often  to  splash  through  mud  and  water, 
and  to  cross  the  Run  often  with  nothing  but  shoes  on, — for  in  those 
days  boots  were  worn  only  on  Sundays,  and  to  weddings  and  parties, — I 
say  for  want  of  good  strong  thick  leather  boots,  Thomas  frequently  had 
his  feet  wet  and  cold,  which  brought  on  inflammation  of  the  eyes.     This 


114  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1815. 

was  so  severe  that  for  many  weeks  he  was  entirely  blind,  and  after  using 
ointments  and  doctoring  in  one  way  and  another  for  three  months,  we 
sent  over  to  West  Liberty,  Va.,  for  lame  Doctor  Wilson, — the  same 
who  attended  my  brother  John  in  his  fever  after  his  campaign  in  1813. 
Doctor  Wilson  came,  and  at  once  told  Thomas  that  he  would  have  to 
be  patient,  for  as  the  inflammation  had  been  there  for  three  months,  it 
would  be  three  months  before  it  could  be  removed,  for  it  was  a  case 
that  could  not  be  cured  in  a  day  or  two.  The  treatment  was  very 
severe ;  but  he  finally  recovered  entirely. 


SKCTION     \^I. 

1815-1816. 

FIRST  COURTSHIP  AND   MARRIAGE. 

ABOUT  the  latter  end  of  August,  1815,  I  made  ready  and  went  up 
to  pay  a  visit  to  my  uncle,  aunt  and  brother  in  Fayette  County. 
But  although  I  had  a  desire  to  see  these  relatives  and  other 
friends,  still  there  was  one  above  all  others  that  I  had  a  strong  desire 
to  see,  and  that  was  Mary  Kithcart,  the  daughter  of  the  deceased  Joseph 
Kithcart,  Esq.,  and  his  wife  Elizabeth,  at  this  time  a  widow,  for  Joseph 
Kithcart  had  died  February  24,  18 14. 

I  have  already  mentioned  a  visit  that  I  and  my  brother  David  made 
to  Kithcart's  in  January,  181 2 

It  was  in  consequence  of  that  visit  that  my  brother  David  wrote  to 
me  some  two  or  three  months  previous  to  this  time,  that  he  had  paid  a 
visit  to  the  friends,  the  Morrisons,  in  Westmoreland  County,  and  that 
he  had  called  and  stayed  all  night  at  the  widow  Kithcart's.  And  he 
observed  in  his  letter  that  as  I  had  thought  well  of  the  two  older  girls 
who  were  now  both  married,  the  third  one  was  now  grown  to  be  a 
young  woman,  and  he  thought  she  was  the  best  of  the  three,  and  was 
calculated  to  make  some  young  man  a  fine  wife,  and  that  the  estate  of 


1815.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  115 

the  deceased  father  would  be  sufficient  to  give  each  child  a  good  begin- 
ning if  taken  care  of 

This  information  set  me  all  on  fire,  and  I  longed  to  see  the  young 
heiress  once  more,  now  grown  to  a  fine  young  woman,  who,  when  I  saw 
her  in  January,  1S12,  was  too  young  and  too  small  to  attract  notice. 
And  still  further,  I  thought  if  there  was  some  cash  to  come  along  with 
a  fine  young  girl,  I  was  the  young  man  that  could  take  care  of  both. 
These  considerations,  as  I  said  before,  made  me  very  anxious  to  go  and 
see  for  myself. 

Accordingly,  on  the  28th  of  August,  181 5,  I  left  home  and  proceeded 
to  my  Uncle  David  Cathcart's  in  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  and 
found  them  all  well  and  glad  to  see  me.  I  remained  here  for  several 
days  making  daily  visits  amongst  my  old  friends  and  acquaintances,  but 
none  of  these  brought  to  view  the  object  of  my  visit  to  that  part  of  the 
country. 

A  brother's  h.\rd  barg.\in  with  a  lover. 

At  length  I  mentioned  to  my  brother  David  that  I  wished  to  go  over 
to  the  widow  Kithcart's  to  pay  them  a  visit,  that  I  might  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  her  daughter  that  he  had  written  to  me  about;  and  I 
requested  him  to  accompany  me,  thinking  in  my  own  mind  that  by  this 
means  the  ice  would  be  the  easier  broken. 

To  this  proposition  he  readily  consented,  provided  that  I  would  work 
for  him  two  days  for  each  day  we  would  be  away,  at  the  same  time  ob- 
serving to  me  that  while  we  were  out  we  would  visit  the  friends  in  West- 
moreland County. 

I  readily  consented  to  his  terms,  which  was  proving  the  old  saying 
that  "  the  course  of  true  love  never  runs  smooth,"  but  on  the  other  hand 
it  proved  another  old  saying,  that  "true  love,  like  hunger,  will  break 
through  stone  walls."  Only  think  of  it!  that  I  must  work  two  days  for 
him  for  his  one;  but  again,  some  one  will  say  if  that  was  the  hardship 
endured,  you  were  quite  a  lucky  fellow. 

Well,  I  met  with  no  disappointment,  but  what  proved  disagreeable  to 
me  afterwards  was  that  my  brother  in  this  matter  took  a  known  advan- 
tage of  me  at  the  time,  as  I  shall  show  hereafter.  (His  brother  David 
was  actually  courting  his  own  intended  wife,  Betsy  Irvine,  on  that  same 
expedition,  and  Robert  did  not  know  it. — T.  J.  S.) 


116  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1S15. 

In  due  time  my  brother  David  got  ready,  I  being  always  ready,  and 
away  we  went,  and  in  due  time  arrived  at  the  widow  Kithcart's,  where 
my  brother  in  due  form  introduced  me  to  the  old  lady  and  then  to 
her  daugher  that  I  had  so  long  and  so  anxiously  desired  to  see. 

LOVE   AT    FIRST  SIGHT. 

And  I  must  confess  that  I  was  struck  at  first  sight  with  satisfac- 
tion at  the  beauty  and  appearance  of  one  that  I  inwardly  felt  a  desire 
should  be  my  companion  through  life,  and  I  found  by  conversation 
with  her  afterwards  that  she,  like  myself,  had  fallen  in  love  at  first 
sight,  and  I  believe  that  this  is  no  uncommon  thing. 

David  Humphrey,  an  old  friend  of  mine,  living  at  the  present  time 
(1854),  in  Bellefontaine,  O.,  but  formerly  of  Rush  Run  hills,  told  me  that 
he  had  an  uncle,  an  old  bachelor,  who  lived  in  i8i4onthe  Miami,  and  who 
had  sent  for  him  to  come  and  live  with  him,  which  request  he  complied 
with  in  the  spring  of  18 14.  Late  in  the  fall  of  that  same  year,  when  the 
nights  began  to  lengthen,  he  heard  of  a  singing  school  about  three  miles 
from  his  uncle's,  to  which  he  went,  and  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
sing  bass,  it,  according  to  usage,  placed  him  on  a  seat  opposite  to  the 
ladies,  which  gave  him  a  fair  view  of  them,  and  that  view  was  not  with- 
out its  effect.  For  amongst  the  ladies  who  sang  treble  on  the  opposite 
seat,  he  noticed  one,  a  perfect  stranger  to  him,  that  drew  his  attention, 
and  without  any  effort  on  his  part,  except  the  glance  of  his  eye,  he  found 
his  affections  drawn  out  toward  this  strange  girl,  and  he  was  fully  deter- 
mined to  find  out  who  she  was,  as  he  had  more  than  once  noticed  her 
stealing  a  glance  at  him  during  the  time  of  singing. 

Therefore  as  soon  as  the  singing  broke,  and  the  time  of  picking  up 
hats  came,  he  kept  his  eye  on  his  girl,  and  soon  discovered  a  young 
man  paying  attention  to  her  by  helping  her  on  with  her  riding  coat,  and 
then  she  put  on  her  bonnet  and  linked  arms  with  the  young  man,  who 
helped  her  on  her  horse,  and  he  mounted  his  and  they  rode  off  together. 
This  made  Humphrey  feel  bad,  as  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
young  man  was  her  beau ;  but  finding  that  they  took  the  same  road  he 
had  to  go,  he  followed  on  for  some  distance,  until  they  at  length  came 
to  a  mud  hole  in  the  road,  and  this  caused  the  young  man  to  keep  to 
the  right,  and  the  young  lady  to  the  left,  while  he,  Humphrey,  took  ad- 


1815.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  117 

vantage  of  the  separation,  and  spurred  his  horse  on  and  dashed  right 
through  the  mud  hole,  and  brought  his  horse  up  right  alongside  of  the 
strange  girl,  and  immediately  got  into  conversation  with  her. 

He  then  learned  of  her  that  the  young  man,  of  whom  Mr.  Humphrey 
was  so  jealous,  was  her  own  brother.  He  learned  her  name  and  resi- 
dence, and  let  her  know  that  he  was  the  nephew  of  the  old  bachelor, 
Mr.  Humphrey. 

Before  they  parted  he  asked  the  privilege  of  calling  to  see  and  con- 
verse with  her,  which  was  readily  granted,  and  in  the  course  of  the  next 
week  he  called,  and  was  well  received;  and  he  continued  his  visits  in 
regular  order  till  they  finally  got  married,  lived  very  agreeably,  and 
brought  up  a  fine  family  of  boys  and  girls. 

A  second  case  that  I  shall  relate  was  that  of  William  McCormick, 
who  lived  with  his  father  near  Smithfield ;  he  went  up  to  visit  some 
relatives  between  Pittsburgh  and  Monongahela  City,  and  while  on  a 
visit  to  a  cousin  who  lived  on  the  public  road  side,  he  was  seated  on  a 
porch  overlooking  the  road  one  day,  and  singing  a  song  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  his  friends,  when  a  young  lady  passed  by  on  horseback,  going 
towards  Monongahela  City.  He  eyed  her,  and  she  eyed  him,  and  both 
were  love-struck  at  first  sight, — so  much  so  that  McCormick  said  that 
he  soon  felt  all  over  so,  and  could  not  rest.  He  asked  his  cousin  who 
that  young  lady  was.  and  where  she  lived,  and  the  answer  was  that  she 
was  Betsy  Gaston,  and  lived  with  her  father  on  the  ne.xt  farm.  "  Well," 
said  McCormick,  "  I  must  go  and  see  her  to-morrow,  and  you  must  go 
along,  and  introduce  me  to  her  and  her  family,"  which  the  cousin  prom- 
ised, and  the  evening  of  the  next  day  over  they  went;  but  little  intro- 
duction was  needed  between  William  McCormick  and  Betsy  Gaston, 
for  they  appeared  to  know  and  understand  each  other,  as  if  by  instinct 
or  some  mysterious  operation.  They  sat  near  each  other  and  conversed 
with  freedom  and  ease;  nor  was  it  long  till  she  asked  him  to  sing  the 
same  song  she  heard  him  sing  the  day  before,  with  which  he  readily 
complied,  and  also  a  few  more  to  beguile  the  time  and  for  amusement. 
But  long  before  this  his  cousin  had  slipped  off  home,  and  left  McCor- 
mick to  make  his  own  way  among  his  new  acquaintances ;  but  it  was 
not  many  days  or  weeks  until  they  had  their  match  made,  got  married, 
and,  like  Humphrey  and  his  wife,  lived  comfortably  happy  so  long  as  I 


118  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1815. 

knew  them  ;  but  they  finally  moved  off  down  the  Ohio  River,  and 
where  they  settled  I  never  learned.  But  here  i.s  so  much  for  falling  in 
love  at  first  sight,  and  I  believe  such  matches  are  always  happy  matches, 
for  the  reason  that  the  love  and  affection  on  both  sides  is  strong  and 
mutual,  and  flows  from  one  to  the  other  by  strongest  consent. 

Attest — Robert  A.  Sherrard,  Jan.  19,  1S54. 

THE   MORRISON   FAMILY. 

It  was  on  Thursday  that  we  arrived  at  the  Widow  Kithcart's  ;  and  we 
stayed  all  night,  and  left  the  next  morning  after  breakfast,  and  in  due 
time  arrived  at  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Morrison,  near  what  is  now 
Beatty's  Station,  Westmoreland  County,  who  was  married  to  Jane 
Irvine,  a  kinswoman  of  our  own,  and  whose  sister  Betsy  lived  with  them. 

(The  kinship  was  this:  Jane  (Irvine)  Morrison  and  Betsy  Irvine  were 
full  second-cousins  of  father  and  Uncle  David ;  for  their  mother,  Mrs. 
Rachel  Irvine,  was  the  daughter  of  William  Gamble,  one  of  the  bro- 
thers of  my  great-grandmother,  Ann  (Gamble)  Cathcart. — T.  J.  S.) 

These  relatives  appeared  to  be  glad  to  see  us,  and  on  Saturday,  after 
breakfast,  a  young  lady  by  the  name  of  Maxwell  came  to  Morrison's  to 
get  Betsy  Irvine  and  her  niece,  Nancy  Morrison,  to  go  with  her  home  to 
attend  a  singing-school,  which  was  to  come  off  that  afternoon  in  their 
neighborhood.  Miss  Maxwell  asked  David  and  myself  to  go  with  the 
cousins  to  the  singing-school ;  but  David  and  Betsy  Irvine  refused  to  go, 
at  the  same  time  strongly  insisting  on  my  going  in  company  with 
Nancy  Morrison.  We  agreed,  and  went  over  to  Maxwell's  some  six 
miles,  took  dinner  and  attended  the  singing-school  where  there  col- 
lected a  goodly  number  of  young  people  of  both  sexes,  and  good 
singers,  because  they  practiced  well  and  took  delight  in  vocal  music. 
After  the  singing  was  over,  Nancy  Morrison  and  I  returned  to  Ma.x- 
well's,  and  stayed  over  night ;  and  in  due  time,  after  breakfast  on  Sab- 
bath morning,  in  company  with  the  young  people  of  the  Maxwell 
family,  we  went  to  Congruity  Church,  and  heard  a  discourse  delivered 
to  a  large  and  respectable  congregation  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Porter,  who 
was  at  this  time  (September,  1815)  pastor  of  that  church.  He  appeared 
old  and  frail,  inasmuch  as  he  delivered  his  discourse  sitting  in  the  pul- 
pit in  a  large  armed  rocking-chair. 


1815.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  119 

GOING   HOME   FROM   CHURCH. 

I  found  that  John  Morrison,  my  brother  David  and  Betsy  Irvine  had 
come  over  to  Congruity  to  hear  old  father-  Porter  preach,  although  the 
distance  was  nine  miles. 

After  sermon  was  over  we  all  mounted  our  horses  and  took  the  road 
for  Morrison's,  but  we  had  not  gone  far  before  an  opportunity  offered, 
and  I  embraced  it,  of  riding  up  alongside  of  Betsy  Irvine  ;  but  I  had  not 
time  to  exchange  five  words  with  her  till  I  was  abruptly  ousted  from  that 
place  and  position  by  my  brother  David,  who,  seeing  m)'  position,  spurred 
his  horse  forward  and  ran  him  with  some  force  right  up  between  us. 
This  forced  me  off  to  the  right,  and  I  was  thereby  compelled  to  fall  back 
to  the  company  and  conversation  of  Nancy  Morrison,  with  whom  I  had 
conversed  so  much  on  Saturday  and  Sabbath  morning  on  our  way  to 
church  that  I  thought  that  most  of  the  subjects  of  interest  were  ex- 
hausted, and  that  a  change  of  company  would  give  a  chance  of  bringing 
up  and  discoursing  over  the  same  subjects.  But  in  this  I  was  sadly 
disappointed  by  the  abrupt  and  unmannerly  conduct  of  my  brother 
David,  for  I  then  thought,  and  I  still  think,  that  it  was  the  most  unman- 
nerly conduct  that  I  had  ever  known  him  to  perpetrate  with  me  or  any 
one  else;  had  he  been  just  married  to  the  girl  three  days  before,  he 
might  have  been  e.xcused,  and  hardly  then  ;  but  finding  no  other  chance, 
I  contented  myself,  and  taxed  my  memory  and  ingenuity  to  bring  for- 
ward matters  new  and  old  to  beguile  the  time,  and  to  keep  the  conversa- 
tion from  running  out  or  flagging.  And  what  was  consoling  somewhat 
was  the  fact  that  the  girl  whose  company  I  enjoyed  was  young,  not  more 
than  twenty  (as  a  matter  of  fact  she  was  then  only  sixteen  and  a-half 
years  old.  See  Egle's  "  Genealogies,"  p.  59 — T.  J.  S.),  and  very  hand- 
some, while  the  one  my  brother  David  seemed  to  set  so  much  store  by 
was  at  least  thirty,  and  very  homely,  but  well-read  and  well-informed. 

OLD-FASHIONED   SABBATH-KEEPING. 

By  the  time  we  arrived  at  Morrison's,  after  a  long  service  at  church 
and  a  ride  of  nine  miles,  we  had  a  sharp  appetite  for  dinner,  which  was 
ready  for  us  and  we  for  it.  Towards  evening  Betsy  Irvine  went  to  her 
drawer  and  brought  out  a  handful  of  pecan  nuts  and  divided  them,  and 


120  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1815. 

we  cracked  them  with  our  teeth  ;  but  she  could  not  do  that,  and  there- 
fore had  to  use  some  instrument  on  the  hearth.  But  she  had  not  cracked 
more  than  two  till  old  John  Morrison,  who  was  reading  his  book,  called 
out :  "  Who  is  cracking  nuts  on  the  Sabbath  ?"  He  said  nothing  against 
his  daughter  or  David  and  me,  who  continued  to  crack  the  pecans  with 
our  teeth,  as  if  there  could  be  so  much  difference  between  jaw-cracking 
and  hearth-cracking. 

His  conduct  in  this  respect  reminded  me  of  the  Yankee  deacon  who, 
when  the  congregation  talked  of  putting  a  stove  in  the  meeting-house  to 
keep  it  warm,  objected  to  the  putting  of  it  there,  alleging  that  it  would 
be  a  desecration  of  the  Sabbath.  "  Well,  but  Deacon,"  said  his  friend, 
"  there  is  no  more  harm  in  using  a  stove  in  the  meeting-house,  than  for 
your  wife  to  use  a  foot-stove  in  her  sleigh  to  warm  her  feet  coming  to 
and  going  from  church."  "  O,"  said  the  deacon,  "  I  had  not  thought  of 
that ;  I  suppose  we'll  have  to  get  the  stove." 

The  Sabbath  passed  away,  and  on  Monday  morning  we  still  found 
ourselves  at  John  Morrison's,  and  we  must  stay  this  day,  and  Betsy 
Irvine  proposed  that  we  should  accompany  her  and  Nancy  Morrison  on 
a  visit  to  the  widow  Miller's.  After  breakfast  we  all  made  ready  and 
had  a  pleasant  walk  of  about  a  mile,  and  a  pleasant  chat  with  the 
cousins,  my  brother  David  not  allowing  me  the  privilege  of  walking 
with  Betsy  Irvine,  neither  going  nor  returning,  but  he  monopolized  all 
her  company  and  conversation,  so  that  it  was  little  of  it  that  fell  to  my 
share,  for  David  always  kept  close  to  her  when  out  from  Morrison's, 
and  always  kept  up  a  close  conversation  with  her. 

We  left  John  Morrison's  after  dinner  on  Tuesday,  and  stopped  for 
the  night  at  widow  Kithcart's,  and  this  was  in  accordance  with  my 
feelings  and  wishes. 

And  although  I  had  been  as  kindly  treated  at  Morrison's  as  heart 
could  wish,  and  had  the  company  and  conversation  of  as  pretty  a  cousin 
as  the  sun  ever  shined  upon,  yet  I  was  not  as  happy  there  as  might  be 
expected,  although  I  believe  now  that  my  brother  David  was,  and  the 
reason  was  that  I  had  left  my  heart  and  affections  at  the  widow  Kith- 
cart's  with  her  daughter  Mary,  who,  on  our  return,  was  down  in  the 
meadow  busied  spreading  flax.  And.  oh,  how  I  longed  to  be  there 
helping  her  at  such  rural  employment,  but  so  soon  as  she  saw  us  alight 


1815.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  121 

from  our  horses,  she  left  off  the  flax  spreading,  not  that  she  was 
ashamed  to  be  caught  at  such  out-door  employment,  but  because 
strangers  had  arrived,  and  there  was  one  there  she  delighted  to  honor, 
and  he  delighted  to  honor  her. 

THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE. 

That  evening  I  had  but  little  opportunity  of  conversing  with  her,  with- 
out being  more  abrupt  than  would  seem  to  be  proper.  I  and  David  retired 
to  rest  and  the  next  morning  after  breakfast,  while  David  was  conversing 
with  the  widow  Kithcart,  I  passed  out  beyond  the  orchard,  and  as  I 
returned  I  heard  the  loom  going  in  the  loom-house,  on  hearing  which  I 
repaired  to  the  place,  and  without  further  ceremony  entered  and  took  a 
seat  on  the  loom  beside  Mary ;  and,  oh,  how  glad  I  was  of  the  chance. 

But  time  flew  on  and  rolled  round,  and  my  brother  made  the  motion 
to  start  for  home.  Before  we  left  we  were  told  that  a  singing-school 
would  be  held  on  Saturday  week  at  the  Baptist  meeting-house,  about 
two  miles  from  Kithcart's,  and  would  also  be  held  that  same  evening  at 
the  widow  Kithcart's  at  early  candle  lighting. 

It  was  conducted  by  a  Mr.  Stem,  a  music  teacher,  and  Mary's  brother, 
Thomas  Kithcart,  kindly  invited  us  to  come  over  and  attend.  David 
excused  himself  for  the  want  of  time,  and  I  for  my  part  spoke  of  the 
distance  being  something  of  an  obstacle  (it  was  only  nine  miles,  three 
miles  from  Uncle  David  Cathcart's  to  Connellsville,  and  six  miles  from 
Connellsville  northeast  to  Kithcart's. — T.  J.  S.),  but  it  was  mere  stuff, 
for  nothing  would  suit  me  better,  as  I  wanted  more  of  Mary's  company 
and  conversation,  and  was  determined  to  have  it. 

And  as  an  excuse  to  come  back  to  the  singing-school,  I  left  a  new 
singing-book  that  I  had  purchased  in  Mount  Pleasant  when  David  and 
I  went  on  to  Morrison's,  but  it  was  no  go,  for  we  had  not  left  the  house 
ten  perch  till  we  were  hailed,  and  one  of  the  boys  came  running  out  to 
us  with  the  singing-book ;  this  I  considered  as  unlucky,  but  it  was  a 
mistake,  for  nothing  of  the  sort  followed. 

We  left  Kithcart's  on  Wednesday  and  arrived  hoTie,  at  Uncle  David's, 
the  same  evening,  after  being  absent  one  week ;  and  I  must  confess  it 
was  the  most  pleasant  week  that  thus  far  I  had  ever  put  over  in  the 
progress  of  my  life.     I   turned   in   and  commenced  to  help  my  brother 


122  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1815. 

David  to  work  according  to  contract,  being  ignorant  at  the  time  that  he 
had  taken  advantage  of  me,  not  knowing  at  the  time,  nor  for  a  month 
and  a  half  afterwards,  that  he  was  as  deeply  interested  in  the  visit  to 
see  Betsy  Irvine,  who  became  his  wife,  as  I  was  to  see  Mary  Kithcart, 
who  became  my  wife.  But  I  helped  him  to  labor  till  the  next  Thursday 
week,  and  the  next  day,  Friday,  I  started  over  on  my  second  visit 
to  Kithcart's,  accompanied  by  old  Uncle  Cathcart.  We  arrived  there 
in  due  time,  and  were  kindly  received  by  both  mother  and  daughter, 
and  indeed  by  all  the  family.  I  put  in  my  time  very  agreeably  till 
after  dinner  on  Saturday,  at  which  time  I  and  Mary  and  her  brother 
Thomas  went  to  the  singing-school  at  the  Baptist  meeting-house,  two 
miles  away.  The  attendance  at  the  singing  was  large,  and  when 
brought  to  a  close,  Mr.  Stem,  the  teacher,  gave  notice  that  there  would 
be  another  singing  at  early  candle  lighting  at  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Kithcart.  We  returned  to  Kithcart's,  and  there  was  a  number  of 
relations  of  the  family  came  home  with  us,  and  some  few  acquaintances. 
When  the  hour  arrived  for  singing,  the  house  was  well  filled  with  a 
number  of  good  singers,  as  well  as  with  a  number  of  spectators.  After 
the  singing  was  over,  and  all  had  gone  home  that  intended,  Mr.  Stem 
stayed,  and  he  and  I  sang  a  great  variety  of  tunes,  principally  from  my 
new  book,  not  long  published  by  a  Mr.  Wise,  of  Virginia.  This  book 
contained  a  great  variety  of  Methodist  tunes,  which  I,  as  well  as  the 
teacher,  had  learned,  and  which  we  sang,  as  we  thought,  well. 

LOVERS    GOING   TO   CHURCH. 

The  next  morning  being  the  Sabbath,  the  friends  from  the  "  Neck," 
which  is  the  triangular  piece  of  land  lying  in  between  Jacobs'  Greek  and 
the  Youghiogheny  River,  left  to  go  to  Tyrone  church  to  hear  Mr.  Guthrie 
preach,  while  I  went  with  the  Kithcarts  to  the  Mt.  Pleasant  church  and 
heard  Mr.  Power  preach.  Mary  and  I  rode  together  five  miles  to  the  place 
of  preaching,  and  when  sermon  and  service  were  over,  we  rode  back  home 
together,  and  oh,  what  an  amount  of  agreeable  conversation  we  had  during 
that  ride  to  and  from  church  !  I  thought  it  a  privilege  and  a  pleasure 
to  have  five  miles  to  go  and  return  after  sermon.  On  Monday  I  and 
uncle  Cathcart  did  not  leave  the  widow  Kithcart's  till  after  dinner,  and 
this  gave  me  another  fine  opportunity  of  discoursing  with  Mary,  which 


1815.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  123 

completely  broke  the  ice  between  her  and  me  at  that  time  and  forever.  I 
wa.s  now  privileged  to  come  and  go  as  often  and  at  .such  times  as  I  thought 
proper,  which  privilege  I  made  use  of  by  going  over  from  my  uncle's 
once  in  two  weeks,  and  then  I  would  stay  at  least  two  days.  This 
visiting  continued  till  the  end  of  October,  by  which  time  Mary  and  I 
became  engaged ;  for  we  both  felt  we  could  not  live  apart. 

THE    KITHCART   ANCESTRY. 

(Joseph  Kithcart,  the  father  of  Mary,  who  was  his  third  daughter  and 
fourth  child,  was  the  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (White)  Kithcart,  or  "  Cath- 
cart,"  who  were  born  in  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  the  one  in  1737  and 
the  other  in  1740.  They  emigrated  to  America  in  early  times,  but  it  is 
not  known  at  what  time  they  removed  west  of  the  mountains,  nor  where 
their  children  were  born. 

It  is  a  tradition  among  the  Kithcarts  that  the  name  was  originally 
"  Cathcart "  when  their  ancestor  John  came  to  America,  but  that  when 
he  settled  in  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  his  grant  of  land  was  by  mistake 
recorded  as  "  Kithcart "  in  the  title  books  of  Virginia,  which  at  that 
earlj'-  day  claimed  jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  Western  Pennsylvania, 
and  in  order  to  hold  the  title,  the  family  took  the  name  of  "  Kithcart." 
My  father  says  there  was  no  relationship  existing  between  the  Kithcarts 
and  old  Uncle  David  Cathcart,  although  they  lived  only  nine  miles  apart 
and  visited  each  other.  The  Kithcart  homrstead  was  in  that  part  of 
Fayette  County  east  of  the  Youghiogheny  River,  near  the  old  Mount 
Vernon  Furnace,  six  miles  from  Connellsville,  on  the  road  to  Mt.  Pleas- 
ant, or  near  that  road.  Here  John  Kithcart  died  October  26,  18 12.  His 
wife,  Sarah  White,  had  died  before  him,  on  March  4,  1798. 

They  had  three  children:  Mary,  b.  1766;  d.  Mar.  4,  17S8  ;  Thomas, 
who  was  killed  at  a  barn  raising  on  October  5,  1792,  when  he  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age, — he  was  to  have  been  married  the  next  week ; 
Joseph,  the  father  of  Mary,  who  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Cunningham, 
— they  had  in  all  ten  children. 

Of  the  ten  children  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Cunningham  Kithcart,  only 
one  is  now  living,  Mrs.  Martha  Sharon,  who  is  now,  at  this  writing,  Feb.  1 6, 
1889,  almost  eighty  years  of  age.  In  October,  1888,  my  brothers,  Robert 
and  John,  and  I  called  to  see  her  at  her  home  in  Mt.  Pleasant,  O. — T.  J.  S.) 


124  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1815. 

THE   CUNNINGHAM     FAMILY. 

Barnett  and  Anna  Cunningham,  the  father  and  mother  of  Elizabeth 
Cunningham  Kithcart,  removed  April,  1770,  from  Peach  Bottom,  York 
Co.,  Pa.,  on  the  Susquehanna,  and  settled  in  that  part  of  Fayette  County 
called  the  "  Neck,"  or  the  "  Forks,"  lying  between  the  Youghiogheny 
River  and  Jacobs'  Creek  on  the  east,  on  a  farm  in  Tyrone  township. 

They  had  ten  children,  seven  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  the 
mother,  Anna  Cunningham,  lived  to  be  eighty-six  years  of  age,  and  died 
August  4,  1825.  She  had  in  all — of  children,  grand-children,  and  great- 
grand-children — two  hundred  and  fifty.  She  was  born  Sept.  18,  1739. 
Barnett  Cunningham  died  in  1804. 

The  children  of  Barnett  and  Anna  Cunningham  were  as  follows, — the 
order  of  their  ages  is  not  known  : 

1.  Elizabeth,  b.  Oct.  4,  1772  ;  m.  first,  March  22,  1792,  Joseph  Kith- 
cart,  who  died  Feb.  24,  1814;  m.  secondly,  Feb.  7,  1818,  John  Galloway 
of  Mercer  Co.,  Pa.,  a  worthy  and  wealthy  widower  who  died  Sept.,  18 19. 
She  then  removed  back  to  her  old  Kithcart  homestead  in  Fayette 
County,  where  she  remained  until  1823,  when  she  came  to  live  with 
her  son-in-law,  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  after  the  death  of  her  daughter 
Mary. 

She  continued  to  live  with  his  family  at  Rush  Run  for  four  years, 
until  after  his  second  marriage,  when  she  removed  to  Mt.  Pleasant, 
and  lived  there  until  her  death,  August  20,  1854. 

2.  Joseph,  b.  1776;  d.  May  19,  1858;  ni.  Keziah  Nokkis.  He  lived 
all  his  long  life  on  the  same  farm  on  which  he  was  born,  the  same 
on  which  his  father  and  mother  first  settled  in  April,  1770. 

His  wife  Keziah  did  not  long  survive  him ;  they  had  fifteen  or  six- 
teen children,  and  they  all  lived  to  grow  up,  and  were  all  married, 
except  one  daughter,  Anna,  and  she  was  engaged  to  John  Clark,  Jr. , 
but  she  died  before  the  wedding. 

The  other  children  of  Barnett  and  Anna  Cunningham  are:  3.  Wil- 
liam; 4.  Benjamin;  5.  John,  of  Miller's  Run;  6.  Hugh,  of  Delaware, 
O.  ;  7.  Anna,  m.  Joseph  Hutcheson,  and  lived  near  her  father's; 
8.  Mrs.  John  Morrison  of  Hickory;  and  two  othsrs  whose  names  are 
not  given. 


1815.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  125 

ELIZABETH     CL'XXIXGHAM     KITHCART   GALLOWAY. 

Although  .she  lived  as  the  widow  of  Jolin  Galloway  for  thirty-six 
years  after  his  death,  yet  she  was  always  known  everywhere  and 
called  by  the  familiar  title  of  "  Grand-mother  Kithcart. " 

She  was  two  years  old  before  her  parents  could  have  her  baptized, 
though  both  her  father  and  mother  were  members  in  full  and  good  stand- 
ing in  the  Presbyterian  church  where  they  came  from  at  Peach  Bottom, 
on  the  Susquehanna  river.  But  it  pleased  Providence  in  due  time  to 
send  the  Rev.  James  Power  out  over  the  mountains,  a  very  worthy 
young  Presbyterian  minister,  to  look  after  Presbyterians  among  the 
early  settlers.  It  was  his  mission  to  organize  churches,  ordain  elders, 
hold  communion  services,  and  baptize  children  that  had  been  deprived 
of  the  ordinance  for  want  of  a  suitable  clergyman  of  the  Presb)terian 
order  to  perform  that  rite. 

Such  was  the  case  with  Barnett  Cunningham  and  his  wife,  Anna  Cun- 
ningham, as  also  his  half-brother,  James  Torrance,  and  his  wife,  who  came 
out  over  the  mountains  with  the  Cunninghams,  and  both  families  settled 
near  together  in  the  "  Neck"  between  the  Youghiogheny  and  Jacobs' Creek. 

These  four  persons  brought  their  certificates  of  Presbyterian  church 
membership  with  them  in  1770,  and  in  the  summer  of  1774  the  Rev. 
James  Power  came  out  on  his  mission,  and  he  organized  at  that  time  the 
new  church  of  Tyrone,  with  the  Cunninghams,  and  Torrances,  and 
others,  as  members,  and  Elizabeth  Cunningham,  with  other  children, 
was  at  that  time  baptized.  Barnett  Cunningham  and  his  half-brother, 
James  Torrance,  were  chosen  and  ordained  Elders  in  thai  church,  and  the 
first  meeting-house  was  built  on  a  piece  of  Barnett  Cunningham's  land. 

EXGAGEMEXT  OF   ROBERT   A.    SHERR.ARD. 

After  the  engagement  of  myself  and  Mary  Kithcart  I  returned  home 
to  Rush  Run  Mills,  in  some  respects,  quite  a  different  person  from  what 
I  was  when  I  left  home.  I  was  now  always  in  a  good  humor ;  always 
merry,  courteous,  kind,  affable,  blithsome  and  gay,  and  while  awake  and 
by  myself,  most  of  the  time  whistling  or  singing.  It  was  evident  that  all 
this  change  was  brought  about  by  female  influence;  and  if  it  were  not 
for  that  influence,  man  would  be  but  a  rough,  uncouth  being. 


126  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1815. 

It  was  the  1st  of  November  when  I  arrived  home,  and  about  the  loth 
of  December  I  returned  to  Fayette  County  to  visit  Mary  and  make  the 
final  arrangements  for  our  marriage.  Passing  through  Brownsville  I 
stopped  with  my  cousin,  John  Johnston,  who  kept  a  wholesale  tailor 
shop  with  cloths,  vestings,  trimmings  and  hosiery. 

(He  was  the  son  of  a  brother  of  Margaret  Johnston  of  Ireland,  the 
wife  of  William  Sherrard,  and  was  therefore  a  full  cousin  of  father's 
father,  John  Sherrard. — T.  J.  S.) 

I  left  my  measure  with  him  for  a  new  suit  from  top  to  toe  as  I  had 
returned  homeward  the  last  of  October,  and  expected  to  find  them 
ready,  but  I  found  there  was  little  done  on  the  suit,  and  I  had  to  wait 
for  it  two  or  three  days,  and  it  was  not  finished  till  Saturday  by  noon. 

By  this  time  my  beard  had  grown  so  as  to  require  the  hand  of  a 
barber,  and  on  inquiry  I  learned  that  the  barber  was  sick.  My  friend 
Johnston  told  me  that  he  sometimes  borrowed  a  razor  from  his  friend, 
Mr.  Rhodes,  when  the  barber  was  sick  or  absent,  and  he  sent  his  boy 
to  borrow  the  razor  for  me,  as  I  told  him  I  desired  to  go  across  the 
country  below  Connellsville  and  see  Mary  that  evening,  instead  of  going 
to  my  Uncle  Cathcart's,  which  would  retard  my  progress  till  Monday. 

But  to  my  chagrin,  when  I  tried  the  razor  it  was  so  dull  that  all  I  could 
do  with  it  I  could  not  get  the  one-half  of  my  beard  whittled  off,  and  I 
was  therefore  obliged,  however  grievous  the  disappointment,  to  put  off 
my  visit  to  Mary  for  that  evening,  but  she  was  not  looking  for  me,  as  there 
was  no  particular  day  set  for  my  return  at  the  time  I  left  her.  I  there- 
fore made  the  best  of  my  way  to  my  Uncle  David's,  and  got  my  brother 
David  to  be  my  barber,  and  the  ne.xt  day.  Sabbath,  I  accompanied  him  to 
Laurel  Hill  meeting-house  to  hear  the  Rev.  Mr.  Guthrie  preach,  instead 
of  going  with  Mary  to  Mt.  Pleasant  to  hear  the  Rev.  James  Power  preach. 

However,  I  went  over  to  Kithcart's  on  Monday,  but  found  that  Mary 
was  not  at  home  ;  her  mother  and  grandmother  Cunningham  were  also 
away  on  a  visit,  but  they  returned  before  the  close  of  the  evening,  and 
Mary  was  sent  to  come,  as  she  had  been  staying  with  her  sister,  Sarah 
Andrews.  I  had  on  the  new  suit,  and  being  thus  dressed  up,  I  cut  a 
very  decent  and  respectable  figure.  But  this  was  the  first  time  that  I 
and  Mary's  grandmother  Cunningham  had  met,  and  at  first  sight  it 
appeared  that  she  formed  but  a  poor   opinion   of  me,   as  the  intended 


1816.]  FAAflLV  H/STORY.  127 

husband  of  Mary  Kithcart.  The  old  lady  considered  me  too  much  of 
a  foppish  fellow,  and,  as  I  believed,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  I  was 
neatly  and  well  dressed  from  head  to  foot,  far  beyond  what  she  expected. 

She  had  heard  from  Mary's  mother  that  Mary  was  to  be  married  to 
a  young  man  from  Ohio,  and  the  old  lady  being  an  old  frontier  settler, 
associated  all  that  belonged  to  the  frontier  with  frontier  customs,  and 
knowing  that  Ohio  was  at  that  time,  in  1815,  a  frontier  settlement,  she  had 
embraced  in  her  association  the  hunting-shirt,  moccasins  and  the  log-cabin. 

But  when  I  found  out  through  Mary  the  opinion  that  her  grand- 
mother had  formed  of  me,  I  did  all  I  could  to  ingratiate  myself  into  the 
old  lady's  favor ;  I  attended  to  all  her  foibles  and  whims,  and  knowing 
that  she  used  snuff  pretty  freely,  I  always,  before  going  to  see  her, 
purchased  a  quarter  of  snuff  and  took  it  as  a  present,  and  by  these 
means  I  soon  had  her  to  boast  of  Mary's  husband. 

Mary's  grandmother,  Anna  Cunningham,  made  her  home,  at  this 
time,  witli  her  son,  Joseph  Cunningham,  on  the  old  homestead,  near  the 
Tyrone  Church,  six  miles  from  Kithcart's. 

THE    BANNS   PUBLISHED. 

During  this  visit  I  stayed  with  Mary  three  days,  and  we  arranged  the 
time  of  our  marriage  to  take  place  on  the  25  th  of  January,  18 16,  and  it  was 
also  arranged  that  the  banns,  or  intention  of  marriage,  be  published  between 
Robert  A.  Sherrard  and  Mary  Kithcart  by  the  Rev.  James  Power  on  three 
succeeding  Sabbath-days,  which  was  done  accordingly.  I  made  niy  bro- 
ther David  acquainted  with  the  day  we  had  fixed  for  the  wedding,  and  on 
hearing  that  he  made  a  wager  with  me  that  he  would  be  married  before  me. 

I  took  him  up,  and  won  the  wager,  as  the  event  proved  afterwards, 
but  at  that  time  I  was  left  altogether  in  the  dark  as  to  who  his  intended 
bride  was,  for  he  refused  to  tell  me.  Before  I  left  for  home  I  took  the 
opportunity  to  let  my  uncle  know  that  the  wedding-day  was  set,  which 
pleased  him  very  much,  and  met  with  his  entire  approbation  and 
approval.  At  the  same  time  he  observed  to  me  that  he  wished  that  my 
brother  David  would  find  some  one  to  his  pleasement,  and  especially  one 
that  would  please  also  his  uncle  and  aunt,  when  I  mentioned  that  David 
had  just  made  a  wager  with  me  that  he  would  be  married  before  me. 
"  And  who  is  that  ?  "  asked  uncle,  hastily.     I  replied  that  it  was  more 


128  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1816. 

than  I  could  tell,  for  he  had  refused  to  tell  me.  "  I'll  lay  a  hundred  to 
one  it  is  to  Betsy  Irvine,"  said  uncle.  "That  may  be!"  said  I,  for  at 
the  mention  of  her  name  it  flashed  on  me  that  this  explained  his  conduct 
during  our  visit  to  Morrison's  the  September  before,  and  how  he  had 
treated  me,  first,  in  over-reaching  me  by  compelling  me  to  work  two 
days  for  each  day  he  lost  in  going  with  me,  when  he  was  in  reality 
going  to  see  and  make  a  match  with  the  girl  of  his  own  choice ;  and 
secondly,  that  he  would  neither  give  nor  allow  me  any  chance  while  on 
said  visit  to  Morrison's  to  discourse  with  his  intended,  Betsy  Irvine,  as  re- 
lated on  page  119.  David  afterwards,  on  my  return  to  get  married,  in- 
formed me  that  it  had  been  his  intention  to  be  married  on  Tuesday, 
January  23d,  and  leave  John  Morrison's  on  Wednesday  24th,  and  come 
to  Kithcart's  that  same  day,  and  of  course  be  at  our  wedding  on  Thurs- 
day the  25th,  and  both  parties  would  proceed  together  to  Uncle  Cath- 
cart's  on  Friday  the  26th,  and  make  one  infare  answer  for  both.  The  idea 
was  a  good  one,  if  it  could  have  been  carried  out,  but  his  intended  wrote 
to  him  that  she  had  been  sick,  and  could  not  make  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions in  time,  and  this  put  off  David's  marriage  till  the  14th  of  March,  1816. 

I  returned  home  in  fine  spirits  and  high  glee;  and  while  I  must  ac- 
knowledge that  I  found  a  great  deal  of  happiness  in  pursuit,  yet  the  hap- 
piness of  pursuit  would  in  no  way  compare  with  that  of  enjoyment. 

Shortly  after  I  returned  home  the  winter  set  in  in  good  earnest,  so 
that  the  Ohio  river  became  difficult  to  cross  on  account  of  the  running 
ice.  My  brother  Thomas  was  to  accompany  me  to  the  wedding,  and  we 
concluded  to  start  on  our  trip  sooner  than  we  would  have  otherwise 
done  lest  we  might  not  be  able  to  cross  the  Ohio  when  we  wished. 
Accordingly  we  started  on  the  12th  of  January  and  went  to  LaGrange 
to  cross  the  river  on  the  ferry-boat,  but  found  it  was  not  running  on  ac- 
count of  the  ice.  We  had  to  wait  there  till  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon until  a  sufficient  number  of  travelers  had  gathered. 

The  ferry  was  kept  by  old  Tom  Johnson,  and  he  then  announced  that 
the  boat  would  start,  and  he  charged  me  $2  for  taking  Thomas  and  me 
across,  which  was  extortionate,  for  the  danger  was  not  great  at  all.  He 
never  thrived  after  his  ill-gotten  gains,  and  seven  years  afterwards  he 
was  a  broken  merchant,  although  by  the  ferry  and  a  tavern  he  had  gath- 
ered together  several  thousand  dollars.      But  be  all  this  as  it  may,  I  and 


1816.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  129 

Thomas  mounted  our  horses  on  the  Virginia  shore  at  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  and  rode  on  to  Middletown,  twelve  miles,  where  we  fed 
our  horses,  and  then  by  8  P.  M.  we  were  in  Washington  and  stopped  at 
John  Johnston's  tavern,  and  it  was  very  cold  and  frosty. 

The  next  day  we  went  on  to  Brownsville  by  noon  and  stopped  at  our 
cousin  Johnston's,  and  he  was  then  the  best  tailor  to  be  found  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  or  Virginia. 

Our  object  in  stopping  at  Johnston's  was  to  get  him  to  make  a  new 
suit  for  Thomas,  which  he  did  to  full  satisfaction.  Besides,  I  had  left 
my  measure  and  orders  for  my  wedding  suit  on  my  way  home  the  last 
time,  and  I  got  it  at  this  time.  The  next  day  we  went  on  to  Uncle 
Cathcart's,  and  the  day  following  that  I  went  over  to  see  Mary  to  let 
her  and  the  family  know  that  I  was  still  alive  and  ready  for  the  wed- 
ding day. 

The  next  day,  which  was  the  i6th,  I  and  Mary's  brother,  Thomas, 
went  to  see  the  Rev.  James  Power  at  Mount  Pleasant,  and  I  invited  him 
to  come  on  the  25th  and  perform  the  marriage  ceremony.  The  next 
day  I  returned  to  my  uncle's.  I  would  here  remark  that  I  searched  all 
the  stores  in  Brownsville,  and  all  in  Uniontown,  and  all  in  Connells- 
ville,  to  get  a  pair  of  white  gloves  that  would  be  large  enough  to  fit  my 
hands,  but  could  find  none  large  enough,  and  was  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  a  pair  of  fine  white  lamb-skin  gloves  belonging  to  my 
brother  David.  He  had  used  these  gloves  while  acting  as  captain  of 
the  militia,  and  they  fitted  my  hands  exactly,  and  served  my  purpose  on 
this  occasion. 

MARRI.\GE   OF   ROBERT    A.    SHERRARD. 

Time  rolled  on,  and  brought  the  welcome  day, — Thursday,  January 
25,  1816.  I  had  made  choice  of  James  Clark  as  my  waiter,  and  had  his 
two  sisters,  Polly  and  Betsy, — the  one  to  ride  with  my  brother  David, 
and  the  other  to  ride  with  my  brother  Thomas.  We  rode  over  in  the 
following  order :  I  and  James  Clark,  before ;  David  and  Polly  Clark, 
next ;  and  Thomas  and  Betsy  Clark,  next ;  and  this  composed  the 
groom's  party. 

When  we  arrived  at  Kithcart's,  it  was  twelve  o'clock;  and  a  goodly 
number  of  Mary's  relations,  friends  and  neighbors  were  present  to  wit- 
ness the  marriage  ceremony. 
9 


130  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

We  found  also  the  preacher,  the  Rev.  James  Power,  present  ready  to 
perform  the  ceremony.  As  soon  as  I  was  dressed  up  in  my  wedding 
suit,  I  was  conducted  into  a  neat  httle  room  with  my  waiter,  James 
Clark,  where  we  were  introduced  to  the  bride  and  her  bridesmaid, 
Betsy  Walker;  and  as  soon  as  all  things  were  ready,  we  were  called 
out,  and  we  stood  up  before  the  preacher  and  all  the  company  present. 
The  ceremony  was  said  with  our  sanction  of  it,  and  we  were  now  hus- 
band and  wife,  both  in  the  eye  of  the  law  and  before  God  and  man. 

We  had  agreed  beforehand,  as  it  had  lately  become  customary,  not  to 
trouble  the  waiters  to  draw  off  the  gloves  before  joining  hands,  but  to 
join  the  hands  with  the  glove  on.  To  be  in  the  fashion  we  kept  our 
gloves  on ;  but  Mary  said  to  me  afterwards  that  she  thought  it  more  to 
the  intended  purpose  to  join  the  hands  with  the  gloves  off 

THE   WEDDING    FEE. 

The  ceremony  being  over,  and  the  dinner,  too,  the  old  preacher,  Mr. 
Power,  made  ready  to  leave  for  home,  at  which  time  I  sent  my  waiter, 
James  Clark,  with  three  dollars  to  give  to  him,  which  I  considered  would 
be  sufficient  for  his  trouble.  Some  maj'  think  it  was  a  poor  fee,  and  so 
it  would  be  in  these  days  of  wealth  and  progress ;  but  I  can  assure  such 
that  one  dollar  at  that  time  was  worth  three  now,  and  but  few  persons 
forty  years  ago  gave  more. 

The  afternoon  passed ;  and  after  supper,  as  there  was  no  fiddle,  the 
bride's  brother  Thomas  sang,  and  several  of  the  young  people  seemed 
to  enjoy  themselves  trying  to  dance  four-handed  reels,  which  was  a 
simple,  old-fashioned  dance.  At  length  Thomas  Andrews,  who  was 
married  to  the  bride's  sister  Anna,  led  out  the  bride's  mother,  and  they 
danced  several  jigs  with  some  degree  of  nicety  and  precision,  and  well 
they  might,  as  in  the  case  of  the  old  lady,  dancing  in  her  young  days 
was  very  common,  both  at  weddings  and  at  all  kinds  of  gatherings ;  and 
as  to  Thomas  Andrews,  he  had  been  taught  dancing  at  the  dancing- 
school  in  Ireland  as  an  accomplishment.  I  could  not  dance  at  all ;  but 
1  had  an  accomplishment  that  some  of  them  did  not  have,  and  that  was 
ability  to  calculate  interest. 

For  example,  the  next  morning  the  bride's  uncle,  Joseph  Cunning- 
ham, wished  to  pay  off  a  note  of  hand  held  by  the  old  lady,  his  sister; 


1816.J  FAMILY  HISTORY.  131 

but  neither  of  them  was  able  to  calculate  the  interest  on  the  note.  On 
that  account  the  old  lady  called  me  to  them  at  the  desk,  and  asked  me 
to  calculate  the  interest  due  for  one  year,  nine  months  and  nineteen 
days.  This  I  did  in  short  order  by  multiplying  the  dollars  and  cents 
by  the  number  of  days  ;  then  cut  off  two  figures  at  the  right  for  cents, 
and  divide  the  remainder  by  sixty,  and  I  had  the  interest  in  dollars  and 
cents ;  and  I  was  more  proud  of  that  accomplishment  than  all  the 
dancing  I  ever  performed. 

E.\RLY   EDrCATION. 

Had  I  been  unable  to  calculate  the  interest  due  on  that  note,  how 
little  I  would  have  felt,  and  it  would  have  been  a  wound  inflicted  on 
mother-in-law.  She  called  me  in  full  confidence,  for  she  did  not  know, 
but  felt  sure  in  her  mind  that  a  young  man  versed  in  many  branches  of 
an  "  English  Education "  could  certainly  calculate  the  simple  interest 
on  a  note  of  hand.  Although  neither  she  nor  her  brother  could  do  it, 
still  a  vast  allowance  must  be  made  between  the  time  that  she  and  her 
brothers  and  sisters  were  brought  up  and  schooled,  and  the  time  that  I 
and  my  brothers  were  brought  up  and  schooled,  and  yet  there  was  not 
so  great  a  difference  between  their  time  and  my  time,  as  between  my 
time  and  the  present  time  at  which  I  write,  February  15,  1854. 

Mother-in-law  was  born  in  1772,  and  brought  up  during  the  unsettled 
times  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  excited  state  of  the  early  settlers  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  and  the  Pan  Handle  of  Virginia,  until  peace  was 
made  with  the  Indians  in  1774  and  1775.  Nor  did  education  take 
anything  like  a  rapid  start  till  some  time  after  I  was  a  married  man.  I 
got  but  a  poor  education  at  school,  but  my  knowledge  of  reading, 
writing  and  arithmetic  was  principally  gained  at  home,  and  so  of  my  geog- 
raphy and  English  grammar,  so  that  I  became,  in  a  measure,  self-taught. 

And  it  is  very  evident  that  the  education  obtained  at  the  common 
schools  in  former  times,  as  well  as  in  the  present,  without  being  prac- 
ticed and  improved  upon  at  home,  was  and  is  in  too  many  instances 
lost,  or  nearly  so,  and  there  are  but  few  of  the  young  men  and  young 
women  of  the  land  who  do  much  to  improve  the  education  they  get  at 
the  common  schools;  they  become  careless,  and  it  becomes  uphill  work 
to  attempt  to  improve  on  books,  slate  and  paper. 


132  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

SECTION     VII. 
^  1816-1817. 

MARRIED  LIFE. 

BUT  I  have  been  forgetting  that  it  v--as  the  morning  after  my  mar- 
riage. Breakfast  being  over,  there  was  a  very  considerable  bustle 
and  stir  in  making  preparation  to  start  over  to  my  uncle's  where 
the  infare  was  to  be  held,  but  in  due  time  the  horses  were  brought,  and 
the  infare  party  all  mounted  and  took  their  stations  in  order  on  the  road 
as  follows  :  I  and  Mary,  the  bride,  first ;  James  Clark  and  Betsy  Walker, 
the  waiters,  next ;  David  Sherrard  and  Polly  Clark  next ;  Thomas 
Sherrard  and  Betsy  Clark  next;  while  Thomas  Kithcart  and  Rachel 
Carr  brought  up  the  rear.  We  rode  into  Connellsville,  six  miles,  and 
on  out  to  Uncle  Cathcart's,  where  we  enjoyed  ourselves  that  day  to 
good  purpose.  We  had  the  company  of  George  Graham  and  wife, 
lawyer  James  Todd  and  wife  from  Uniontown,  and  among  others,  old 
Matthew  Neely  called  in  and  was  made  welcome,  for  he  was  an  old 
acquaintance  of  my  father's,  and  was  among  the  early  settlers  in  that 
neighborhood,  and  after  the  decease  of  old  George  Paull,  with  whom 
my  father  boarded  and  lived  as  early  as  1773,  Matthew  Neely  married 
the  widow  Paull  and  lived  with  her  on  the  land  that  fell  to  her  as 
dower. 

We  stayed  at  my  uncle  s  till  Monday  after  dinner,  and  then  went  to 
John  Clark's ;  Tuesday  to  Alexander  Johnston's,  in  Connellsville ; 
Wednesday  to  Kithcart's,  and  on  Thursday,  February  i,  1816,  we  went 
down  to  the  "  Neck  '  to  Joseph  Cunningham's,  Mary's  uncle,  with 
whom  Mary's  grandmother,  Anna  Cunningham,  lived  at  that  time.  We 
visited  also  at  James  Torrence's  and  Joseph  Hutcheson's,  and  returned 
by  Saturday  evening  to  Kithcart's,  and  on  Sabbath  we  made  our  appear- 
ance at  church  at  Mount  Pleasant. 

On  Wednesday  following  seven  of  Mary's  cousins  came, — a  son  and 
daughter  of  William  Cunningham ;  a  son  and  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Cunningham,  from   Beaver;  a  son  and  daughter  of  John  Cunningham, 


1816.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  133 

from  Miller's  Run,  twelve  miles  southwest  of  Pittsburgh  ;  and  a  son  of 
Hugh  Cunningham,  from  within  four  miles  of  Delaware,  Ohio. 

The  next  day  we  all  went  up  to  Mason's  Mount  Vernon  Furnace,  a 
mile  from  Kithcart's,  where  we  all  got  weighed;  I  weighed  i86  pounds 
and  Mary  weighed  just  140  pounds,  she  being  but  a  little  over  eighteen 
years  old. 

The  next  Monday,  February  12th,  we  left  mother  Kithcart's  for  home 
at  Rush  Run,  and  Mary  rode  a  young  mare  which  her  mother  had 
purchased  for  her  at  ;$6o,  out  of  the  money  due  her  from  her  father's 
estate  ;  her  mother  also  paid  me  §200,  for  which  I  gave  her  guardian, 
Mr.  Tinsman,  my  note  as  a  receipt  and  security  for  so  much  of  Mary's 
own  money.  We  stopped  at  Connellsville  and  also  at  Uncle  Cathcart's, 
and  on  Wednesday  my  brother  Thomas  started  with  us  on  our  way 
home.  We  stopped  in  Brownsville,  where  I  paid  for  my  wedding  suit, 
^40,  and  Thomas  paid  the  bill  for  his  suit  at  $30.  On  Thursday  we 
left  my  cousin  Johnston's,  and  we  came  twenty-five  miles  to  Washing- 
ton and  ten  miles  farther  to  half  a  mile  below  Hickory,  where  we 
stopped  at  Aunt  Morrison's ;  she  was  a  sister  to  Mary's  mother.  The 
next  day,  Friday,  the  i6th,  we  left  Morrison's  and  came  on  home  to 
Rush  Run,  where  we  arrived  that  evening,  and  I  presented  to  my  old 
mother  her  first  daughter-in-law.  Happy  days  flew  round  and  no  end 
to  them,  and  I  have  no  doubt  in  my  mind,  if  hundreds  of  men  who 
become  old  before  they  marry,  or,  as  many  do,  never  marry  at  all,  only 
knew  the  sweets  and  comforts  of  a  married  life,  they  would  not  linger 
so  long  on  the  shores  of  a  single  state  of  blessedness,  but  would 
launch  away,  and  strive  to  make  themselves  and  at  least  one  more 
comfortable  and  happy. 

FIRST   VISIT    AFTER    MARRIAGE. 

By  the  ist  of  June  that  year,  1816,  the  water  had  run  so  low  that  no 
grinding  could  be  done,  and  Mary  and  I  left  home  on  the  4th  day  of 
June  to  make  a  visit  to  her  mother.  This  time  we  went  by  Steuben- 
ville  and  stopped  at  Dick's  tavern  in  that  place,  took  dinner  and  had 
the  horses  fed,  and  previous  to  starting  I  offered  pay,  but  they  would 
take  none.  Their  uncommon  kindness  and  attention  to  us  quite  aston- 
ished me,  but  it  proved  to  be  no   loss  to   them  at  last,  for   during  the 


134  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

space  of  thirteen  years  afterwards  I  made  that  my  regular  stopping 
place  whenever  I  would  have  business  in  Steubenville,  and  during  that 
period  was  well  treated  and  had  but  moderate  bills  to  pay.  James  and 
Robert  Dick  were  born  and  brought  up  to  be  young  men  in  County 
Antrim,  Ireland,  in  the  same  neighborhood  with  William  and  Thomas 
Andrews,  who  married  the  two  elder  sisters  of  Mary,  and  the  Andrews' 
had  been  to  Steubenville  to  visit  the  Dicks,  and  in  this  way  Mary  came 
to  have  knowledge  of  them. 

I  and  Mary  crossed  the  river  at  the  Middle  Ferry  and  took  the  road 
through  Eldersville  and  past  Cross  Creek  Village,  that  is,  the  Cross 
Creek  meeting-house,  for  there  was  no  village  there  then.  Six  miles 
beyond  the  Cross  Creek  Church  we  stopped  at  John  Morrison's  ;  next 
day  to  Brownsville,  to  Johnston's  ;  next  day  to  uncle's,  where  we  stayed 
over  Sabbath ;  Monday,  for  dinner,  at  John  Clark's,  and  home  to  Mary's 
mother's  by  evening. 

Our  stay  and  visit  among  our  friends  and  relations  embraced  the 
short  period  of  three  weeks,  and  in  that  time  Mary  quilted  a  beautiful 
green  stuff  quilt,  at  which  time  I  suffered  very  severe  pain  from  a 
double  tooth. 

As  soon  as  Mary  had  finished  her  quilt  we  returned  to  my  brother 
David's  to  complete  our  visit,  as  we  had  spent  but  little  time  as  yet  with 
him  and  his  wife,  they  having  been  married  the  14th  of  March  preced- 
ing, and  his  wife  had  not  seen  nor  conversed  with  Mary  until  we  arrived 
there  on  our  way  this  time  from  Brownsville  to  her  mother's,  and  as  we 
intended  returning  home  by  Williamsport  (now  Monongahela  City),  we 
concluded  to  finish  our  visit  at  my  brother's  at  this  time. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  here  that  when  we  stopped  in  Connellsville 
with  my  jaws  bound  up,  inquiry  was  made  as  to  what  was  the  matter, 
and  I  had  but  one  answer  to  make,  and  that  was  toothache.  James 
Johnston,  the  brother  of  Alexander,  told  me  that  an  easy  cure  was  at 
hand,  if  I  would  submit  to  the  trial. 

TOOTH-ACHE   CURE. 

I  inquired  into  the  nature  of  the  cure,  and  was  told  that  it  consisted  in 
nothing  more  than  to  have  a  small  vein  on  the  inside  of  the  ear  burned 
off  with  a  small  instrument   that  was   made  and  kept  in   Robert  Long's 


1816.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  135 

smithsliop,  just  across  the  way,  and  if  I  wished  to  have  the  cure  per- 
formed, he  would  step  over  with  me,  and  point  out  the  vein  in  the  ear, 
and  Long  would  do  the  surgical  part  in  using  the  burning-iron.  I 
thanked  Mr.  Johnston  for  the  tone  of  his  civility,  and  told  him  I  would 
accept  his  kind  offer.  We  then  stepped  across  info  Mr.  Long's  shop, 
and  as  he  and  I  had  been  old  school-mates  twenty  years  before,  it  was 
not  hard  for  us  to  renew  our  acquaintance. 

Long  then  showed  me  the  instrument,  which  was  small  and  shaped 
like  a  little  tomahawk.  He  put  it  into  the  fire  and  brought  it  to  a  red 
heat,  and  I  then  turned  my  left  ear  down  on  the  anvil,  while  Johnston 
with  his  finger-nail  made  a  mark  in  the  vein  of  the  right  ear,  and  Long 
applied  the  red-hot  little  instrument.  It  was  but  a  twitch,  and  over  in 
an  instant,  and  I  then  turned  up  my  left  ear  and  had  it  burned.  The 
tooth-ache  had  for  several  days  caused  me  much  pain,  but  it  had  ceased 
to  ache  a  day  or  two  before  this,  but  after  this  neither  that  tooth  nor  any 
other  of  my  teeth  ached  for  nearly  twenty  years.  This  cure  by  burning 
the  little  vein  in  the  ear  was  performed  in  June,  1816,  and  the  first  tooti 
that  ached  afterwards  was  in  January,  1836. 

But  although  I  had  no  tooth-ache  for  so  long  a  period,  yet  I  was  often 
troubled  with  some  slight  touches  of  neuralgia,  which  would  take  its 
start  mostly  in  the  chin  or  lower  jaw,  and  would  soon  shoot  up  into  my 
temples,  and  then  up  into  my  head,  and  I  would  feel  it  spread  all  over 
the  top  surface  of  my  head,  but  it  was  gentle,  compared  with  the  excru- 
ciating pain  I  often  suffered  from  tooth-ache;  and  I  thought  it  was  a 
happy  circumstance  that  I  got  my  ears  burned,  if  that  was  the  cause  of 
the  change. 

SUPERSTITIOUS   CURES   FOR  TOOTH-ACHE. 

But  I  am  very  certain  that  there  are  a  very  great  number  of  foolish 
and  superstitious  cures  for  tooth-ache,  as  well  as  for  many  other  diseases 
that  men  and  women  are  heir  to.  When  I  was  about  14  years  of  age  I 
was  much  afflicted  with  the  tooth-ache,  and  was  told  by  two  or  three  of 
my  young  neighbors  that  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Wilson  had 
cured  them  of  tooth-ache,  and  recommended  his  performance  so  strongly 
that  I  was  resolved  to  go  to  him  and  have  him  perform  a  cure  on  me. 
In  due  time  I  went  to  Wilson,  and  he  examined  the  tooth  complained 


136  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

of,  and  said  he  could  cure  it,  and  added  that  he  had  had  great  success  for 
some  time  past  in  curing  a  great  number  of  the  neighbors.  He  then 
took  a  shoe-knife  and  stepped  to  the  check  reel  and  cut  a  few  inches  in 
length  of  thread  from  it,  bidding  me  at  the  same  time  to  follow  him.  He 
led  the  way  to  the  woods  until  we  came  to  a  little  white  thorn  bush. 
From  a  hmb  of  this  bush  he  cut  out  a  slip  about  an  inch  and  a  half  long, 
which  he  handed  to  me  and  bade  me  rub  the  end  of  it  in  the  hollow  of 
the  tooth,  and  also  to  rub  it  well  round  about  the  tooth.  I  did  as  he 
bade  me,  and  handed  the  slip  back  to  him,  which  he  put  back  into  the 
place  he  took  it  from  ;  he  then  took  the  thread  he  had  brought  away 
from  the  check  reel,  and  tied  the  slip  fast  in  its  place ;  he  then  cut  about 
three  or  four  inches  from  the  top  part  of  the  same  limb,  the  one  end  of 
which  he  slit  up  fine  like  a  little  broom.  This  he  gave  me  to  take 
home,  and  bade  me  take  a  lump  of  alum  salt,  which  was  very  plenty 
at  that  time,  but  very  scarce  now  all  west  of  the  mountains,  and  wash 
all  round  the  tooth,  and  in  it  with  the  alum  salt,  using  the  brush  to 
scrub  well  at  the  same  time,  and  then  hide  the  salt  and  the  brush  under 
the  dropping  of  the  eaves  of  the  house,  where  I  should  never  see  them. 

In  all  this  I  followed  his  directions,  but  it  was  all  of  no  avail,  for  in  a 
short  time  after  I  had  fulfilled  his  directions,  the  tooth  began  to  ache 
with  redoubled  vigor,  and  I  was  forced  to  get  it  extracted  ;  and  this 
ended  Wilson's  cure  and  the  tooth-ache  at  this  time. 

ANOTHER    TOOTH-ACHE   CURE. 

Long  afterward  I  had  the  tooth-ache  and  got  the  following  receipt 
from  an  old  Irish  woman  by  the  name  of  Fay.  Said  she  :  "  You  must 
take  a  nail  from  a  horse-shoe  that  you  have  found  yourself,  and  you 
must  rub  the  nail  all  round  the  tooth  and  in  it,  if  the  tooth  be  hollow  ; 
then  you  must  drive  the  nail  in  a  log  behind  the  door;  then  you  must 
walk  backwards  from  the  nail  nine  times,  and  each  time  you  must  say  the 
Lord's  Prayer  backwards,  and  each  time  you  say  the  Lord's  Prayer 
backwards  you  must  say  '  Faugh  yeagh.  Faugh  neagh.'  "  I  asked  old 
Mrs.  Fay  the  meaning  of  those  words,  but  she  said  that  she  did  not 
know,  but  believed  it  was  Latin.  I,  for  my  part,  believed  them  to  be 
words  belonging  to  the  native  Irish  lingo  ;  and  I  further  believed  that  to 
cure  the  tooth-ache  by  using  charms  or  any  other  superstitious  method, 


1816.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  137 

might  be  left  to  the  ignorant  and  superstitious,  who   could  put  faith  and 
confidence  in  such  foolish  whims  and  notions. 

My  mother  had  taught  me  when  a  child  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  for- 
wards, but  now  to  say  it  nine  times  backwards  as  a  cure  for  the  tooth- 
ache was  more  than  I  could  do. 

WEDDING    OUTFIT. 

But  to  return  :  I  and  Mary  finished  our  visit  to  brother  David's  and 
all  the  friends  on  that  side  of  the  Youghiogheny  river,  and  returned  to 
Kithcart's,  where  we  made  preparations  for  our  return  home.  Before 
we  started,  mother-in-law  called  in  Mr.  Jacob  Tinsman,  Mary's  guardian, 
and  spread  out  Mary's  outfit,  consisting  of  bed  and  bedding,  sheets, 
blankets,  quilts  and  coverlets ;  also  pillow-cases,  table  linen,  towels,  and 
a  variety  of  articles  too  tedious  to  enumerate;  and  she  asked  me  and  the 
guardian  if  we  were  satisfied  to  take  all  these  articles  in  full  pay  for 
Mary's  services  performed  for  her  mother  from  the  death  of  her  father 
up  to  the  time  she  left  with  me  for  her  new  home  in  Ohio,  which  was 
just  two  years. 

Our  answer  was  that  we  were  both  well  satisfied,  and  the  bed  and  bed- 
ding and  other  articles  were  then  packed  up.  The  next  day  we  left  for 
home  by  way  of  Robstown,  Williamsport,  Hickory  and  VVellsburg,  and 
on  up  to  Rush  Run,  crossing  that  stream  seventeen  times  from  the 
mouth  up  to  our  Mill,  a  distance  of  three  miles. 

Mary's  brother  John  was  sent  with  us  to  pack  the  bed  and  bedding 
on  horse-back,  as  light  wagons,  called  "  Dearborns,"  were  not  as  yet 
brought  into  use  west  of  the  mountains,  and  it  had  been  common  for 
thousands  who  crossed  the  mountains  to  pack  out  all  their  movables  on 
the  back  of  an  old  horse  or  cow,  as  they  might  own  one  or  both,  and  at 
this  time,  in  1816,  it  was  still  the  common  way  of  moving  among   many. 

In  the  latter  part  of  April  of  that  year  (i8i6)  I  took  horse  and  started 
out  to  look  up  a  good  quarter  section  of  land  to  enter.  I  steered  my 
course  to  the  place  of  our  old  residence,  on  the  waters  of  Captina  Creek, 
where  I  staid  over  night  with  my  old  Quaker  friend,  Jesse  White,  and 
while  staying  with  him  that  night  he  told  me  the  following  incident  from 
his  own  experience. 


138  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

INCIDENT   OF   THE   BATTLE   OF    BRANDVWINE. 

Jesse  White  had  spent  his  early  life  in  Chester  Co.,  Pennsylvania,  and 
removed  to  Ohio  while  he  was  yet  a  young  man.  He  told  me  that  the 
day  the  Battle  of  Brandywine  was  fought,  which  was  the  i  ith  day  of 
September,  1777,  he  and  two  or  three  others  were  mowing  for  a  farmer 
who  lived  and  kept  a  tavern  on  the  hill  above  Brandywine  Creek,  in 
sight  of  the  place  where  the  battle  was  fought. 

But  the  meadow  in  which  Jesse  White  and  his  companions  were 
mowing  lay  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill  from  where  the  battle  was 
raging.  They  could  hear  the  noise,  but  this  was  not  satisfactory,  and 
prompted  by  curiosity,  they  wished  to  see  as  well  as  hear  ;  they  there- 
fore dropped  their  scythes  and  went  up  to  the  tavern  to  see,  but  in  that 
they  were  disappointed,  for  the  valley  of  the  Brandywine  was  so  filled 
with  smoke  that  they  could  not  see  the  operations  of  the  two  armies. 
Jesse  and  his  comrades  had  been  but  a  short  time  at  the  tavern  when  a 
sergeant  with  a  file  of  men  came  up  from  the  battle  and  pressed  the  land- 
lord's two  horses  and  wagon  into  service  for  the  purpose  of  removing  some 
of  the  wounded  from  the  battle-field,  and  they  also  impressed  Jesse  White 
to  drive  the  team  to  the  spot  and  bring  away  a  load  of  the  wounded. 

But  to  this  Jesse  demurred,  thinking  it  too  dangerous  an  undertaking, 
but  the  sergeant  ordered  him  to  mount  and  drive  down  or  he  would  run 
him  through  with  the  bayonet.  Jesse,  finding  it  was  little  use  to  parley, 
mounted  and  drove  about  half  way  down  the  hill,  where  he  met  an 
American  officer  with  his  thigh  broken,  which  hung  dangling  by  the  side 
of  the  horse  he  rode.  The  officer  asked  Jesse  where  he  was  going,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  was  ordered  down  to  bring  away  a  load  of  the 
wounded. 

"  Turn  about,  turn  about ;  don't  you  see  the  Americans  retreating,  and 
the  British  in  pursuit  ? "  said  the  officer.  Jesse  did  turn  around,  but  in 
such  haste  that  he  overset  the  wagon  and  turned  it  completely  bottom 
upwards.  In  this  dilemma  he  took  the  shortest  method  and  cut  the 
hame  strings,  threw  off  the  gears,  mounted  and  brought  the  horses  off 
safe  and  put  them  in  the  stable,  and  cleared  himself  home.  The  next 
morning  he  went  back  to  the  tavern,  and  found  the  British  army  en- 
camped near  the  tavern,  and  saw  the  landlord's  wagon,  that  he  had  left 


1816.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  139 

on  the  road,  now  standing  in  the  British  camp  loaded  with  their  baggage. 
Jesse  said  this  was  all  the  part  he  took  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
that  against  his  will.  (In  my  visits  to  the  battle-ground  I  have  not  been 
able  to  locate  that  tavern. — T.  J.  S.) 

Leaving  Jesse  White's  the  next  morning,  I  steered  my  course  south- 
ward, passing  out  of  Belmont  County  into  what  is  now  Monroe,  stopping 
all  night  within  four  miles  of  Woodsfield  with  an  old  acquaintance,  John 
Mitchen.  The  next  day  I  passed  on  westward  into  the  bounds  of  what 
is  now  Noble  County,  and  stopped  all  night  with  a  family  named  Bates, 
who  had  a  mill,  if  mill  it  might  be  called,  for  it  was  certainly  built  on  a 
cheap  plan,  for  the  house  was  not  more  than  sixteen  feet  square,  one 
story  high,  and  built  of  round  white  walnut  poles,  some  of  which  were 
very  crooked  ;  and  it  was  covered  with  clapboards,  but  it  was  neither 
chinked  nor  daubed.  I  got  leave  to  stay  all  night,  and  called  for  supper, 
which  consisted  of  hard  dry  pone,  some  dried  venison  for  meat,  a  little 
butter  and  milk.  I  had  the  same  fare  for  breakfast,  and  had  to  pay  a 
high  bill  for  such  fare.  I  understand  that  at  this  place  there  is  now,  and 
has  been  for  many  years,  a  village  called  Batesville.  Thence  I  passed 
on  until  I  fell  into  the  main  road  leading  from  Marietta  to  Cambridge,  in 
Guernsey  County.  This  road  I  took,  and  turned  northward  toward  Cam- 
bridge, which  I  passed  through,  and  concluded  to  make  my  way  to  John 
McClure's,  who  was  married  to  Mary  Ferguson,  a  second  cousin  of  my 
own,  and  who,  I  understood,  lived  ten  miles  west  of  Cambridge.  But 
after  I  had  travelled  seven  miles  out  of  Cambridge  I  stopped  at  a  house 
by  the  roadside  merely  to  inquire  how  far  it  was  to  McClure's,  and  I 
found  the  owner  of  the  house  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Mitchell,  who 
formerly  had  kept  tavern  six  miles  west  of  St.  Clairsville,  on  the  road  to 
Captina. 

I  asked  him  if  there  was  any  good  land  to  enter  near  the  road,  and 
before  he  would  answer  my  question  he  asked  me  if  I  wished  to  pur- 
chase land  to  come  and  live  on,  or  to  enter  for  speculation.  I  told  him 
it  was  my  intention  to  make  a  home  on  it.  He  then  said  to  get  down 
and  stay  all  night  with  him,  and  the  ne.xt  morning  he  would  show  me  a 
quarter  section  about  a  mile  north  of  the  road  which  he  thought  would 
please  me.  He  said  it  had  been  kept  in  the  dark  for  some  time,  as 
several  in  the  neighborhood  wanted  to  enter  it  but  had  not  the  money. 


140  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

CONGRESS   LAND   ENTERED. 

He  said  we  must  keep  quiet  about  it,  or  some  one  else  would  be  to 
Zanesville  before  me.  Under  his  persuasion,  I  staid  with  him  all 
night,  and  next  morning  Mitchell  and  I  were  off  by  daylight  to  see  the 
land. 

We  called  on  a  man  by  the  name  of  Tom  Dickson,  who  lived  on  the 
quarter  section  south  of  it,  and  got  him  to  go  with  us  and  show  the 
lines,  for  which  I  gave  him  two  dollars, — the  usual  fee  in  such  cases.  I 
and  Mitchell  returned  and  had  breakfast,  and  I  paid  my  bill  for  his  ser- 
vices, as  well  as  for  lodging  and  meals;  and  I  then  took  to  the  road, 
but  did  not  call  at  McClure's,  but  made  my  way  direct  to  Henry 
Edwards', — an  old  neighbor  who  lived  five  miles  this  side  of  Zanes- 
ville. There  I  stayed  over  night,  and  the  next  morning  he  went  with 
me  into  Zanesville,  where  I  made  a  deposit  of  sixteen  dollars  with  the 
Land  Office,  which  secured  the  quarter  section  to  me  for  forty  days. 

I  had  to  do  this,  for  the  money  I  had  received — $200 — of  Mary's 
guardian  I  had  loaned  to  our  mill  company  to  buy  wheat  with ;  and  as 
no  flour  had  been  sold  previous  to  my  leaving  home,  I  was  obliged  to 
pursue  this  course. 

I  returned  to  Edwards',  and  staid  all  night,  and  the  next  day  came 
on  to  my  friend,  John  McClure's,  where  I  staid  one  night ;  then  came 
on  to  William  Ferguson's,  who  now  lived  near  Harrisville,  six  miles 
west  of  Mt.  Pleasant. 

The  next  day  I  arrived  home,  and  found  all  well  after  an  absence  of 
ten  days,  and  a  prospect  of  a  better  market  for  flour.  In  the  early  part 
of  May,  1816,  there  was  quite  a  brisk  demand  for  flour  to  be  shipped 
abroad,  and  we  made  sale  of  ours  at  ^6  a  barrel,  after  which  my  ;S200 
were  returned  to  me,  and  I  was  soon  off  again  to  Zanesville  to  pay  up 
the  balance  of  my  first  payment. 

Arrived  in  Zanesville,  I  soon  found  my  way  to  the  Land  Office,  and 
paid  in  ^64,  the  balance  of  my  ^80,  entry  money.  While  in  Zanesville, 
I  went  and  took  a  view  of  the  canal  with  its  mighty  water-power.  This 
canal  was  a  company  concern,  which  company  had  a  bank  of  their  own 
creation,  known  as  the  Canal  Bank  of  Zanesville. 


1816.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  141 

ZANESVILLE,    OHIO,    IN    1816. 

The  notes  of  the  Canal  Bank  of  Zanesville  and  those  of  the  Muskin- 
gum Bank  of  Zanesville  passed  very  current  on  to  the  year  1819,  which 
was  a  year  that  smashed  up  a  very  great  number  of  banks,  both  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  as  well  as  a  number  of  banks  in  other  States. 
Banks  chartered  and  unchartered  went  by  the  board  in  many  instances, 
so  that  out  of  some  forty  banks  chartered  and  unchartered  in  Ohio,  only 
six  withstood  the  shock. 

The  names  of  these  six  banks  are  as  follows:  Western  Reserve  Bank, 
Warren,  Trumbull  County;  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Bank  of  Steuben- 
ville ;  Bank  of  Mt.  Pleasant;  Marietta  Bank;  Chillicothe  Bank,  and 
Bank  of  Lancaster.  After  I  had  viewed  the  canal,  I  took  a  view  of  the 
Granger  Mills,  supported  in  their  operations  by  water  from  the  canal. 
This  mill  was  built  on  an  extensive  plan  for  grinding,  had  six  run  of 
burr-stones  and  all  kinds  of  necessary  machinery  for  the  purpose  of 
making  flour. 

I  next  went  and  took  a  view  of  a  new  kind  of  nail  factory  carried  on 
by  horse-power,  and  here  for  the  first  time  I  saw  nails  cut  and  headed 
complete  at  one  stroke. 

I  had  been  accustomed  to  see  cut  nails  made  by  the  slow  process  of 
cutting  by  hand,  and  then  heading  by  hand,  which  made  the  cut  nail 
come  high ;  for  I  have  paid  in  Smithfield  for  hand-cut  nails  seventeen 
cents  a  pound  by  retail,  and  I  paid  in  Connellsville  the  fall  of  1815  for 
a  keg  of  flour-cask  nails  as  high  as  twenty-two  cents  a  pound  by  the 
keg ;  but  at  that  time  bar-iron  retailed  at  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a 
pound. 

I  next  purchased  my  wife  a  new  dress  of  bombazet, — seven  yards  at 
87^  cents  a  yard.  This  kind  of  goods  had  just  come  in  fashion,  and 
was  very  high  at  the  time ;  but  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  price 
came  down  to  37^  cents,  although  50  to  62^  was  more  common. 

I  next  left  Zanesville,  and  proceeded  homeward,  well  pleased  that  I 
had  made  a  commencement  to  secure  land  for  a  farm  of  my  own.  I 
now  thought  that  I  would  be  fully  and  well  satisfied  if  I  only  had  it 
paid  for;  but  when  the  time  arrived  that  I  had  it  fully  paid  for,  I  was 
far  from  being  satisfied  or  content  with  one  quarter  section.     The  pos- 


142  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

session  of  one  only  made  me   the   more   anxious  to  be  the   owner   of 
another;  and  this  is  human  nature. 

A   NEW   HOUSE   BUILT. 

In  August,  i8i6,  my  brothers  William,  John  and  Thomas,  began  to 
provide  logs  to  build  a  house  for  me  and  my  wife,  Mary,  to  live  in,  as  I 
must  necessarily  attend  the  mill. 

We  built  the  house  at  a  convenient  spot  below  the  head-race,  a  little 
distance  from  the  saw-mill.  It  was  built  of  green  sugar-tree  logs  for  the 
most  part,  with  a  few  logs  taken  out  of  an  old  cabin  near  the  mill  dam ; 
it  was  chinked  and  daubed,  and  covered  with  clap-boards,  and  we  laid 
the  first  floor  with  sugar-tree  plank  an  inch  and  a  half  thick,  that  had 
been  sawed  for  boat  bottoms. 

We  built  a  wooden  stick  and  clay  chimney,  with  a  wide  space  below, 
but  it  smoked  some,  and  the  next  year  I  threw  it  down  and  rebuilt  it 
with  some  alterations,  but  it  was  no  better,  for  if  a  common  sized,  round 
log  was  put  in  for  a  back-log  it  would  smoke,  but  split  the  same  log  in 
two  halves  and  put  in  the  one  half  and  it  would  not  smoke.  But  for 
some  cause,  to  me  unknown,  we  could  make  no  ashes  of  any  strength 
to  make  soap,  yet  for  the  fourteen  years  that  we  lived  in  that  house,  we 
burned  the  best  wood,  but  still  the  ashes  were  too  weak,  and  we  had  to 
buy  ashes  made  in  other  houses  no  better  in  appearance  than  our  own. 

FIRST   HOUSEKEEPING. 

In  due  time  our  log  house  was  finished,  and  we  n  oved  into  it  on  the 
6th  day  of  September,  i8i6.  I  got  my  brother,  John,  to  make  us  a  table 
at  five  dollars;  it  stands  in  the  kitchen  now,  1859,  and  has  been  in  con- 
stant use  for  forty-three  years.  (Yes,  it  was  made  of  solid  walnut,  and 
I  well  remember  it  in  my  boyhood,  of  which  fact  I  here  make  record 
this  25th  day  of  February,  1889.  That  log  hcuse  was  the  very  one 
mentioned  on  page  104,  of  which  I  have  a  piece  in  my  possession  as  a 
relic— T.  J.  S.) 

H.\PPINESS   OF   MARRIED   LIFE. 

Besides  the  table,  John  also  made  me  yon  trunk  which  stands  in  my 
bed-room,  with  two  drawers  in  it ;  he  also  made  me  a  bureau  which  is 
also  in  use  yet,  as  good  as  ever. 


1816.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  143 

(That  "  trunk  "  was  one  of  the  curiosities  of  my  childhood,  and  to  me 
there  was  always  an  air  of  mystery  in  it  and  around  it.  It  was  really 
not  a  trunk  at  all,  but  a  chest  standing  on  little  turned  feet  which  were 
about  four  inches  high.  It  was  made  of  poplar,  painted  red,  while  the 
lid  and  feet  were  painted  black.  It  was  filled  with  curious  old  things, 
relics,  such  as  an  old  compass  in  a  little  box  about  four  inches  square, 
an  old  horn  spoon,  and  many  old  letters.  In  my  day  it  was  never  kept 
locked  by  father,  but  there  was  a  little  till  inside  that  he  kept  locked, 
and  in  this  he  kept  his  large  old  pocket-book,  and  some  curious  old 
monty,  and  several  specimens  of  Continental  money.  The  "  trunk " 
always  stood  on  the  bureau  mentioned  above. — T.  J.  S.) 

No  old  bachelor  can  ever  conceive  the  convenience,  comfort,  pleasure, 
happiness  and  satisfaction  of  a  married  life  in  a  house  of  your  own,  but 
this  my  wife  and  I  enjoyed  for  days,  and  weeks,  and  months,  and  years, 
till  death  separated  us. 

DISSOLUTION   OF   PARTNERSHIP. 

It  was  not  long  after  we  had  moved  into  our  new  house  until  my 
brothers  and  I  dissolved  partnership,  after  which  each  member  of  the 
firm  had  to  work  for  himself 

I  took  the  mill  and  saw-mill  to  attend  on  the  following  conditions :  I 
got  one-third  of  the  toll  for  all  country  work,  and  as  it  was  then  custom- 
ary to  saw  timber  on  the  halves  and  the  sawyer  take  the  slabs,  I  was  to 
get  the  one-third  of  the  one-half  of  the  plank  when  sold. 

As  to  the  merchant  work  of  the  mill,  I  was  to  purchase  the  wheat  for 
the  merchant  work,  grind,  bolt,  pack  it  into  barrels,  sell  flour  by  whole- 
sale and  retail,  and  sell  all  the  offal  such  as  middlings,  shipstuff,  shorts 
and  bran ;  keep  an  account  of  the  outlaying  and  inlaying,  the  profits  and 
loss ;  I  was  also  to  find  the  mill  grease,  and  for  my  pay  on  that  score  I 
was  to  have  the  sweepings  of  the  mill. 

DIVISION   OF    PROPERTY. 

We  divided  the  personal  property  share  and  share  alike,  allowing  my 
mother  a  sufficient  share  to  herself  first  set  off.  All  the  balance  of  the 
personal  property  we  set  up  and  each  bid  for  it,  and  the  highest  bid 
took  it.     For  example,  I  bid  my  father's  old  Lough  Neagh  hone  to  $2, 


144  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1816. 

and  got  it.  When  the  personal  property  was  disposed  of,  we  then 
disposed  of  the  real  estate  and  mills.  We  held  the  undivided  half  of 
198  acres  of  land  on  which  the  mills  and  other  improvements  were 
erected  and  made.  We  agreed  to  divide  our  undivided  half  into  twenty- 
four  shares ;  then  allow  my  mother  first  two  shares ;  then  each  of  us  to 
take  shares,  one  share  for  each  year  he  was  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  William  was  nine  years  over  twenty-one — of  course  he  took 
nine  shares ;  John  si.x  shares  ;  myself,  Robert,  five  shares ;  and  Thomas 
two  shares. 

When  William  announced  the  division  as  above,  according  to  the 
time  each  had  wrought  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  I  found  fault 
because  my  share  was  not  equal  to  John's,  upon  the  ground  principally 
that  from  boyhood,  even  from  five  years  old,  I  was  the  stoutest,  the 
strongest,  and  had  the  best  constitution  to  work  and  stand  work  of  any 
kind. 

And  as  a  proof,  as  I  have  stated  before,  I  was,  from  the  time  we  came 
into  the  State,  sent  to  all  the  raisings  and  rollings  as  a  thing  of  common 
occurrence ;  I  was  sent  with  the  cross-cut  saw  to  be  worried  and  worn 
down  by  unskillful  hands  at  the  other  end  of  the  saw-handle;  I  was  the 
man  to  chop  and  split  rails,  and  to  grub  and  chop  logs,  and  clear  the 
new  ground  ready  for  corn  and  wheat. 

And  when  we  moved  to  Rush  Run  and  went  about  the  preparation 
to  build  a  merchant  and  grist-mill,  and  repair  the  old  saw-mill,  I  had  to 
go  into  mud  and  water,  dig  out  the  new  tail  race  and  foundation  for  the 
mill,  and  at  such  work,  with  a  hired  hand  or  two,  I  had  to  take  the 
lead,  while  John  was  complaining,  and  able  to  work  but  little  from 
November,  181 1,  up  to  the  time  he  was  called  to  serve  his  tour  of  duty 
in  February,  181 3.  Then  at  his  return  from  camp  he  took  the  camp 
fever  the  19th  of  August,  1813,  and  was  not  able  to  work  all  winter  ; 
then  in  the  next  April,  1814,  he  took  a  relapse,  and  nearly  all  that 
summer  he  was  not  able  to  do  much  but  ride  out  and  do  some  errands 
and  light  work.  It  was  a  remark  of  old  Sebastian,  an  old  Dutch  neigh- 
bor, who  passed  our  place  almost  daily,  that  the  other  boys  imposed  on 
me,  for  he  always  found  me  employed  at  the  hardest  work ;  so  that 
John  had,  for  the  last  five  years,  an  easy  time  of  it,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  division.     But  I  could  not  prevail  to  get  any  more  than  five  shares 


1816.]  FA  MIL  1  ■  HIS  TOR  Y.  145 

in  place  of  five  and  one-half,  and  John  five  and  one-half  instead  of  his 
six  shares. 

But  I  gave  it  up  manfully,  observing  at  the  time,  that  if  Providence 
still  continued  my  health  and  strength  I  was  much  more  able  to  work 
and  get  along  in  life  than  he  was,  and  he  might  keep  and  enjoy  his  six 
shares. 

But  from  my  heart  I  pitied  poor  Thomas  in  view  of  his  two  shares  ; 
he  even  wept  at  what  he  considered  an  uneven  division ;  and  to 
satisfy  and  reconcile  him  in  some  measure,  William  gave  him  one-half 
share  off  his  nine  shares  ;  William's  shares  were  then  always  rated  and 
counted  on  all  dividends  afterwards  at  eight  and  one-half  and  Thomas' 
at  two  and  one-half  shares,  and  thus  the  division  of  the  property,  both 
real  and  personal,  was  gotten  through  with  in  a  manner  satisfactory,  in 
most  respects,  to  all  parties. 

That  fall  of  i8i6  I  made  the  best  fall  grinding  I  ever  made  at  the 
mill ;  in  the  month  of  September  I  ground  300  bushels  of  wheat  and 
barreled  the  flour  up. 

The  summer  of  1816  corn  was  scarce  and  high  ;  it  sold  mostly  at  gi 
a  bushel,  and  wheat  at  the  highest  that  summer  did  not  exceed  $1.06 
a  bushel  of  sixty  pounds,  but  before  January  following  wheat  rose  to 
$\.2'^.  That  winter  the  mill  stood  frozen  fast  for  six  weeks,  up  to  the 
middle  of  February,  18 17,  and  snow  lay  on  the  ground  six  to  eight 
inches  deep,  which  made  fine  sleighing,  which  was  the  death  of  many  a 
fine  horse  in  large  towns. 

BANKS   IN   EARLY  TIMES. 

That  winter  of  18 17  while  the  mill  was  frozen  fast,  the  fine  prices 
offered  for  wheat,  and  the  goodness  of  the  roads,  caused  the  wheat  tO' 
come  in  plentifully  on  pack  horses,  and  also  on  sleds  and  wagons  used 
by  people  who  had  them.  At  this  time  bank  paper  was  very  uncom- 
monly plenty, — the  most  so  that  I  ever  knew  it  before  or  since. 

Banks  both  chartered  and  unchartered  started  into  existence  through- 
out the  different  states  without  capital,  and  most  of  them  had  but  little 
specie  in  their  vaults  to  redeem  their  paper  with.  The  Land  Offices 
would  rarely  take  any  paper  but  that  of  chartered  banks,  but  there  was 
a   great   deal   of    unchartered    paper    circulated    by   speculating   flour 


146  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1817. 

merchants,  and  by  them  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  millers,  and  by 
them  to  the  farmers,  and  the  farmers  could  spend  it  for  store  goods,  or 
for  any  farm  stock.  But  in  the  purchase  of  land  from  individuals  or 
from  the  government  it  was  a  rare  thing  that  unchartered  paper  would 
go  ;  and  add  to  that,  the  western  store-keepers  could  not  purchase 
goods  in  the  eastern  cities  with  unchartered  paper ;  and  even  the 
chartered  paper  of  our  western  banks  when  taken  to  Baltimore,  Phila- 
delphia or  New  York,  was  at  a  shave  of  five  cents  on  the  dollar. 

To  carry  on  the  purchase  of  wheat  at  ^1.25  a  bushel  was  a  business 
at  this  time  that  called  for  money,  as  the  quantity  bought  in  by  me  at 
our  mill  some  days  amounted  to  three  hundred  and  some  days  four 
hundred  bushels  of  wheat,  principally  of  the  red  chaff  beardy  and  red 
chaff  smooth.  The  Smithfield  Bank  was  organized,  unchartered  and  put 
in  operation  the  fall  of  1816,  with  shares  at  ^50  each.  My  brother 
Thomas  having  only  23^  shares  in  our  real  property  after  the  division, 
became  dissatisfied  with  it,  and  sold  it  out  to  John  for  $250  in  cash,  and 
took  shares  to  that  amount  in  the  Smithfield  Bank. 

Stockholders  having  the  preference  in  the  chance  of  drawing  money 
by  loan  from  the  bank,  I  and  William  agreed  with  Thomas  that  if  he 
would  become  the  drawer,  we  would  become  the  endorsers  for  a  loan  of 
$900,  and  as  he  was  not  now  a  stockholder  in  the  mill,  we  would  divide 
the  profits  share  and  share  alike,  all  four  equal. 

This  plan  was  adopted,  and  Thomas  drew  out  the  ,^900  with  the 
express  understanding  that  it  should  be  paid  back  in  any  unchartered 
paper  passing  current  at  the  time,  and  this  contract  the  next  April  was 
complied  with,  and  the  debt  discharged,  and  that  but  a  short  time  before 
the  Smithfield  and  many  other  unchartered  banks  broke  and  went  down 
forever.  The  J»900  laid  out  on  wheat  at  ^1.25  a  bushel,  and  the  flour 
made  from  it  at  ^8  a  barrel  for  unchartered  paper,  brought  us  a  profit  of 
^500,  which  gave  us  ^125  each.  This  was  the  best  profit  for  the  amount 
of  capital  invested  that  we  ever  made  at  that  mill. 

OVERWORK. 

When  the  thaw  came  at  the  breaking  up  of  the  winter  of  1S17,  I  had 
not  looked  out  for  any  help  to  aid  me  in  the  mill,  and  for  the  first  two 
weeks  I  did  the  work  principally  myself;  but  finding   it  was  cutting  me 


1817.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  147 

down  rapidly,  I  proposed  to  my  brother  John  to  help  me,  and  take  half 
the  profits,  which  he  readily  consented  to  do.  t 

But  at  the  end  of  my  third  week  I  was  so  exhausted  in  body  and 
mind,  and  my  spirits  became  so  depressed,  that  my  wife  noticed  a  change 
in  my  countenance,  and  asked  if  I  was  displeased  with  her,  but  I  told 
her  no,  it  was  the  world  I  was  displeased  with,  and  not  her.  But  in  a 
day  or  two  after  this  I  went  to  bed,  and  a  slight  fever  came  on  me,  but 
after  I  had  rested  two  days  and  two  nights  the  fever  left  me,  and  I  felt 
much  relieved.  I  got  out  of  bed  and  staggered  off  to  the  mill,  a  wiser, 
if  not  a  better  man,  for  I  resolved  that  let  the  world  go  as  it  will,  I  will 
keep  up  a  light  heart,  for  the  world  is  bound  to  support  me,  if  I  cannot 
do  it  myself. 

And  from  that  time  on  I  have  realized  the  benefit  of  that  resolve  in 
the  darkest  hours  and  in  the  worst  of  cases ;  and  although  now  42  years 
have  rolled  round  and  passed  over  me,  with  all  their  varied  scenes  of 
pleasure,  pain,  grief,  sorrow,  disappointment  and  trouble ;  and  I  can 
recommend  to  every  man,  woman  and  child,  to  keep  up  a  stiff  resolution 
and  a  light  heart,  and  to  cultivate  a  cheerful  disposition  as  much  as 
possible,  and  I  will  insure  that  under  such  cultivation,  that  virtuous 
plant  will  grow  daily,  monthly,  yearly  and  forevermore,  strong  and 
vigorous,  until  its  roots  will  be  deep  and  wide-spread,  and  its  top  shall 
reach  the  skies. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  if  a  contrary  disposition  is  let  grow,  such  a 
peevish,  fretful  disposition,  together  with  great  an.xiety  of  mind,  in- 
dulged in  from  day  to  day,  and  from  month  to  month,  and  year  by 
year,  will  prove  a  source  of  continued  trouble  and  turmoil  to  the 
possessor,  a  destroyer  of  peace  and  happiness,  and  will  grow  worse 
and  worse,  until  finally,  when  too  much  indulged  in,  may  and  will 
undoubtedly  destroy  the  possessor. 

It  has  been  observed  by  many  that  the  Quakers  never  indulge  in 
passion,  or  those  turmoils  of  mind  mentioned  above,  and  hence  they 
live  to  be  older  men  and  women  than  any  other  denomination  of 
professing  Christians. 


148  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1817. 


FIRST  CHILD   BORN. 

On  the  26th  day  of  March,  this  year,  1817,  our  first  child,  Mary 
Ann,  was  born,  which  no  doubt  had  a  tendency  to  keep  up  the  spirits 
of  both  me  and  the  mother. 

Old  Dr.  Leslie,  who  had  emigrated  from  Ireland,  County  Tyrone,  from 
Stewartstown,  was  called  in  on  this  occasion,  and  hence  became  our 
family  physician  until  he  moved  to  Steubenville  in  July,  1825. 
He  had  settled  in  Smithfield  the  fall  of  181 6.  And  when  we  settled 
on  our  present  Sugar  Hill  Farm,  he  resumed  practice  in  our  family 
till  age  forbade  him  to  leave  the  town  of  Steubenville. 

(In  a  book  of  old  letters  copied  by  father,  I  have  found  the  follow- 
ing, written  by  uncle  David  A.  C.  Sherrard,  to  father,  which  gives  an 
idea  of  the  appearance  of  Mary  Ann  at  about  twenty-nine  years  of 
age,  when  she  was  on  a  visit  to  uncle  David  in  Fayette  County, 
Pennsylvania  : 

"Laurel  Hill,  Fayette  Co.,  Pa. 
January  22,  1846. 
Dear  Brof/wr : — The  aunt  and  myself  were  much  pleased  to  see  Mary  Ann.     She 
is.  in   my  view   the   only  hving  image  of  my  old   mother  that  has  come  under  my 
notice.  Affectionately  your  brother. 

D.  A.  C.  Sherrard. 
To  Robert  A.  Sherrard." 

She  was  called  for  her  mother,  Mary  Kithcart  Sherrard ;  for  her 
grand-mother,  Mary  Cathcart  Sherrard ;  and  for  her  great-grand- 
mother, Ann  Gamble  Cathcart  — T.  J.  S.) 

VISIT   FROM   UNCLE   AND   AUNT  CATHCART. 

My  uncle  and  aunt  Cathcart  came  down  in  the  month  of  May,  this 
year,  1817,  and  staid  with  us  and  my  mother  for  several  weeks.  When 
they  were  ready  to  go  home  again  to  Fayette  County,  I  and  my  wife 
made  preparations  to  go  up  along  with  uncle  Cathcart  and  aunt  Susan, 
and  the  day  before  we  started  uncle  came  over  to  my  house,  and  asked 
me  for  one  dollar  to  help  carry  him  home,  saying  that  he  was  afraid  he 
would  not  have  enough  to  meet  his  expenses  till  he  would  get  home. 
Remembering  as   I   did   that  when  he   parted   with  us   the  4th  of  April, 


1817.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  149 

1805,  a  little  way  on  this  side  of  Plumpsock,  he  gave  each  of  us  boys, 
William,  myself  and  Thomas,  one  silver  dollar,  I  went  to  the  till  and 
brought  out  two  dollars  in  silver,  and  gave  to  him,  allowing  one 
of  them  to  pay  the  interest. 

But  I  find  by  calculation  that  the  interest  at  six  per  cent,  would  be 
only  seventy-four  cents  and  five  mills,  and  at  eight  per  cent,  interest  it 
would  amount  to  ninety-nine  cents  and  3  mills ;  so  you  see  I  paid  my 
uncle  eight  per  cent.     (That  dollar  is  mentioned  on  page  49.) 

OLD  LAUREL  HILL  CHURCH. 

Uncle  and  aunt  arrived  at  home  just  in  good  time  to  attend  their  sac- 
ramental Communion  at  Laurel  Hill  Church,  and  I  and  Mary  staid  at 
my  uncle's  and  my  brother's  over  Sabbath,  and  attended  each  day's  ser- 
vice. Mr.  Guthrie,  the  pastor,  had  obtained  the  assistance  of  the  Rev. 
William  Johnson,  of  Brownsville,  who  was  a  full  cousin  to  my  present 
wife's  mother — his  father  was  old  William  Johnson,  who  had  other  sons, 
John,  Richard  and  James  Johnson,  who  lives  near  York,  Jefferson 
County,  Ohio. 

On  Saturday  of  that  communion  season,  old  Mr.  Power,  formerly 
pastor  of  the  Mt.  Pleasant  congregation  in  Westmoreland  County, — the 
same  who  married  me  and  my  wife,  Mary  Kithcart, — after  sermon  on 
that  Saturday,  Mr.  Power  rose  up  in  the  pulpit  at  Laurel  Hill,  and  ad- 
dressed the  congregation  by  telling  them  among  other  things,  that  it 
was  forty-three  years  since  he  had  gathered  that  congregation  together, 
but  not  at  that  place, — it  was  about  a  mile  east  where  the  old  meeting- 
house was  built,  which  made  it  the  summer  of  1774  that  the  Laurel 
Hill  congregation  was  formed.  But  at  what  time  the  old  meeting-house 
was  built,  I  have  not  had  any  chance  of  knowing,  having  let  the 
chance  slip  of  making  inquiry  of  old  Billy  Carson  while  he  remained  at 
his  old  homestead  in  Fayette  County. 

Carson  told  me  more  than  fifty-five  years  ago,  that  his  brother,  Alex- 
ander Carson,  undertook  the  cutting  and  hewing  of  the  logs  for  that 
meeting-house,  and  that  Alexander  would  cut,  score  and  hew  200  feet  in 
length  of  logs  each  day,  which  must  be  allowed  to  be  an  uncommonly 
good  day's  work. 

Billy  Carson  further  told  me  that  Alexander  blazed  a  number  of  white- 


150  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1817. 

oak  trees  to  mark  a  road  to  his  work,  and  which  would  serve  afterwards 
to  show  the  family  the  road  to  pass  along  to  meeting. 

Sacrament  being  over  at  Laurel  Hill,  I  and  wife  pursued  our  course 
of  visiting  our  relations,  and  we  found  Mary's  mother  and  all  our  other 
relations  well.  Mary's  brother  John  had  gone  to  Robert  Long  in  Con- 
nellsville,  to  learn  the  blacksmith  trade,  and  he  had  to  serve  four  years, 
which  he  performed  faithfully  to  the  end  of  his  time.  After  an  absence 
of  five  weeks  we  returned  safe  home.  I  had  left  brother  John  to  look  to 
the  mill  and  retail  flour  and  offal,  for  there  was  no  water  to  grind,  as 
only  a  small  head  would  gather  in  twelve  hours,  and  he  charged  me  for 
his  services  while  I  was  gone  the  sum  of  thirty-three  dollars, — a  very 
heavy  bill  for  ail  that  was  done. 

And  brother  William  charged  me  ten  dollars  cash  for  boarding  a  boy, 
John  Scott,  the  five  weeks,  which  was  two  dollars  a  week,  a  double  price 
for  these  times,  for  if  the  mill  company  had  hands  hired  to  make  repairs 
about  the  mill,  race  or  dam,  I  boarded  the  hands  all  the  time  they  made 
repairs,  up  to  the  time  I  left  the  mill,  the  ist  of  April,  1830,  at  fifteen 
cents  a  day,  which  when  sunmied  up  made  but  ninety  cents  for  si.x  work- 
ing days. 

I  demurred  against  the  above  bills,  but  the  only  satisfaction  I  got  was 
the  reply  that  I  might  stay  at  home,  and  under  the  whole  ill  treatment, 
and  that  from  brothers,  I  had  to  "  grin  and  bear  it."  I  could  not  stay  at 
home, — I  had  married  a  young  girl,  worthy  and  of  some  fortune,  and 
away  she  was  now,  caged  up  in  my  coop,  far  from  her  mother,  sisters 
and  brothers,  and  it  would  take  time  to  wean  off  her  affections  from 
these,  and  fi.x  them  on  new  objects,  around  which  they  might  twine  and 
centre  in  place  of  the  old  ones  ;  but  who  ever  heard  of  a  young  girl  or 
boy  even  up  to  riper  years,  that  could  forget  their  fond  mother  and 
"home,  sweet  home?"     None. 

But  I  knew  that  those  two  brothers  were  at  that  time  old  bachelors ; 
they  had  never  known  the  sweets  or  happiness  of  connubial  bliss;  they 
had  no  knowledge  or  experience  or  just  notion  of  how  a  refined,  tender- 
feeling  wife  should  be  properly  treated ;  and  they  never  knew. 


1817.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  151 

SECTION     \"III. 

1817-1821. 

TRADING   DOWN   THE   RIVER. 

THE  fall  of  1 8 17  my  brother  Thomas  took  a  notion  that  he  would 
build  a  boat  and  load  it  mostly  with  flour,  and  run  it  down  the 
river  on  a  trading  trip. 

The  Mill  Company  sent  with  him  one  hundred  and  forty-three  barrels; 
Jacob  ZoU  fifty;  Joshua  Wood,  our  partner's  son,  fifty;  William  Black- 
ston,  storekeeper  of  Smithfield,  ten ;  and  the  balance  of  the  load  Thomas 
supplied  himself  He  left  port,  at  the  mouth  of  Rush  Run,  on  the  30th 
of  January,  1818. 

The  river,  from  recent  rains,  had  risen  and  flowed  from  bank  to  bank, 
so  that  in  the  short  time  of  three  days  he  had  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Kentucky  river,  and  landed  safe  for  the  night.  But  so  sudden  was  the 
change  in  the  weather  that  by  the  next  morning  they  found  their  boat 
frozen  fast  in  the  ice,  where  they  remained  frozen  up  for  fourteen  days. 
During  this  time  Thomas  hired  several  men  to  help  him  and  his  two 
boat-hands  roll  out  the  flour  up  on  the  table  land.  Before  they  had 
finished  taking  everything  out  of  the  boat,  the  ice  on  the  river  gave  one 
loud  crack,  and  soon  all  was  a  moving  mass,  and  away  went  the  boat 
with  the  ice,  and  about  three  thousand  feet  of  cherry  plank  and  scantling 
in  the  boat,  all  lost  to  the  owner. 

When  Thomas  saw  his  boat  and  the  ice  go  off  together,  and  his  flour 
piled  up  on  the  land,  he  was  at  his  wit's  end  what  to  do,  but  was  in- 
formed that  boats  were  built  about  fifteen  miles  up  the  river.  He  then 
started  up  the  Kentucky  river  fifteen  miles,  and  found  a  boat  for  sale, 
large  enough  to  hold  and  carry  his  flour;  the  only  objection  to  it  was 
that  it  was  all  made  of  poplar.  The  price  of  it  was  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  and  he  made  arrangements  with  the  owner  for  its  purchase ; 
so  Thomas  got  the  boat  and  soon  had  it  down,  where  he  reloaded  his 
flour,  and  he  and  his  men  were  soon  under  way  for  the  Falls  of  the 


152  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1818. 

Ohio,  which,  in  due  time,  they  passed  over  in  beautiful  style,  as  the  river 
was  now  very  high.  They  then  proceeded  on  down  the  Ohio  and  into 
the  Mississippi,  and  nothing  worthy  of  note  took  place  till  they  had 
gotten  within  seventy  or  eighty  miles  of  White  river,  in  Arkansas.  On 
trying  to  make  a  landing,  one  evening,  just  before  sunset,  the  boat  was 
swept  sideways  against  the  point  of  a  sharp  snag,  which  struck  the  side 
of  the  gunnel,  and  glanced  up  and  ran  into  the  soft  poplar  gunnel  plank, 
and  in  trying  to  turn  the  boat  off  the  snag,  it  pulled  the  gunnel  plank 
off,  and  in  rushed  the  water,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  the  boat  sank 
to  the  roof,  which  kept  it  from  sinking  any  deeper.  At  the  same  time 
the  water  floated  off  the  oars,  which  left  the  boat  to  drift  with  the  cur- 
rent, and  the  men  were  powerless  to  do  anything.  There  was  a  narrow 
ridge  running  the  whole  length  of  the  roof,  that  was  left  dry,  and  on  this 
narrow  strip  Thomas  and  his  men  sat  or  stood,  and  kept  a  lookout  the 
whole  livelong  night,  without  sleep  or  any  other  refreshments,  as  the 
provisions  were  all  down  in  the  boat,  and  now  well  soaked. 

At  length  the  day  dawned  and  daylight  came,  but  with  it  no  help,  and 
they  were  still  floating  down  the  Mississippi ;  but  after  awhile  the  boat 
was  drawn  into  what  the  men  call  a  "cut  off;"  such  are  very  common 
at  the  head  of  bends  in  the  river.  Into  this  "cut  off,"  as  the  current 
was  the  strongest,  the  boat  was  drawn  for  a  few  miles,  but  was  suddenly 
stopped  by  coming  in  contact  with  a  large  collection  of  drift-wood. 
Here  they  succeeded  in  getting  out  some  provisions  from  the  boat, 
which  was  the  first  they  had  had  to  eat  since  the  disaster,  and  then  they 
began  to  take  the  flour  out  of  the  boat  and  place  the  barrels  on  the 
drift-wood  to  drip.  But  after  taking  out  about  thirty  barrels,  Thomas 
concluded  that  it  would  not  long  be  safe  there,  at  any  rate,  and  leaving 
one  of  the  hands,  Morrison,  there,  he  and  the  other  started  and  traveled 
on  foot,  through  a  dreary  wilderness,  forty  miles  to  the  White  River 
settlement,  where  they  obtained  a  keel-boat  and  men  to  help. 

When  they  landed  back  at  the  boat,  Thomas  found  Morrison  busy 
fishing  out  flour,  and  for  assistance  he  had  decoyed  a  hand  from  a  boat 
that  was  passing  at  some  distance.  He  had  hailed  it  and  told  the  men 
on  board  that  he  had  found  a  boat  sunk,  which  was  loaded  with  flour, 
and  if  any  one  would  come  and  help  him  get  the  flour  out,  he  should 
have  the  half      At  this  proposal  a  passenger  on  board  of  the  passing 


1818.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  153 

boat  concluded  to  try  his  fortune,  and  for  that  purpose  he  came  in  a 
skiff  and  landed  on  the  drift-wood,  where  he  assisted  Morrison  to  get 
the  flour  across  the  drift-wood  on  to  the  main  land. 

When  Thomas  and  his  men  arrived,  he  began  to  give  orders,  which 
alarmed  the  strange  hand,  and  going  to  Thomas  he  inquired  if  the  boat 
belonged  to  him,  and  Thomas  replied  that  it  did.  "  Why,"  said  he, 
"that  rascal  told  me  that  he  had  found  it,  and  that  if  I  would  help  to  get 
the  flour  out  I  should  have  half"  "That  you  cannot  have,"  said 
Thomas,  "but  if  you  will  work  well  in  taking  out  the  flour,  I  will  pay 
you  well  for  your  work."  The  fellow  agreed  to  this,  and  Thomas  had 
all  the  flour  taken  out,  but  found  that  about  fifty  barrels  were  missing, 
which  he  supposed  had  floated  out  of  the  bow  the  night  after  the  boat 
had  sunk. 

A    BO.\T-LOAD    OF    DA.MAGED    FLOUR. 

The  flour  he  put  on  board  the  keel-boat  and  run  it  down  to  the 
mouth  of  White  river,  where  he  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  re- 
pack his  soaked  flour,  but  this  he  had  to  abandon,  for  the  water  had 
soaked  through  the  staves  at  the  joints,  and  this  caused  dough  all 
around  the  staves ;  and  then  the  water  had  run  in  through  the  inspec- 
tion hole,  which  formed  a  mass  of  dough  that  would  weigh  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  pounds.  Thomas  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  must 
sell  the  flour,  just  as  it  was,  at  a  sacrifice,  to  the  best  advantage  he  could. 
Accordingly,  he  sold  two  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  to  a  man  by  the 
name  of  John  McLain,  for  $2.50  a  barrel,  and  agreed  to  take  his  note, 
with  such  security  as  he  could  give,  and  wait  sixty  days  for  his  money. 
The  balance  of  his  flour  he  reshipped  and  ran  it  down  to  Natchez,  and 
sold  it  off  as  best  he  could,  at  from  §3.00  to  S3. 50  a  barrel. 

As  he  had  to  wait  sixty  days  until  John  McLain's  note  became  due, 
and,  to  pass  the  time  away,  he  hired  himself  to  a  carpenter,  to  do  jour- 
ney-work, at  two  dollars  a  day,  and  find  his  own  board  and  lodging. 

SLAVERY    IN    18  I  8. 

During  this  protracted  stay  of  two  months  in  Natchez,  Thomas  had 
the  curiosity  to  go  and  see  a  man  hanged  for  stealing  and  selling  two 
negroes  which  belonged  to  the  Governor  of  Mississippi,  which,  by  the 


154  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1818. 

law  of  the  State,  was  death.  He  stood  and  gazed  at  the  scene  before 
him,  seeing  what  he  could,  until  the  sheriff  took  up  the  hatchet  to  cut 
the  rope  that  held  the  drop;  but  at  that  moment  he  turned  his  back, 
and  the  man  was  launched  into  eternity.  I  asked  him  why  he  turned 
his  back  on  the  gallows,  and  his  reply  was  that  he  could  not  bear  to  see 
a  fellow-mortal  launched  off  the  stage  of  action  for  stealing  and  selling 
a  negro  or  two. 

When  the  sixty  days  were  over,  Thomas  went  up  to  the  mouth  of 
White  River  to  get  his  money  from  McLain  ;  but,  to  his  grief  and  dis- 
appointment, McLain  could  not  pay  him,  for  he  had  sold  the  flour  to 
people  of  the  poorer  classes  who  could  not  pay  him.  When  he  found 
he  could  get  no  money,  he  agreed  to  take  in  part  pay  a  Revolutionary 
land  warrant,  the  right  to  which  descended  to  John  McLain,  as  the 
only  surviving  heir  of  Laughlin  McLain,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution 
from  Virginia.  This  warrant  had  never  been  lifted  from  the  War  Office, 
although  made  out,  numbered  and  dated  in  1786,  and  signed  by  General 
Knox,  Secretary  of  the  War  Department.  The  warrant  called  for  one 
hundred  acres  of  Virginia  military  district  land,  and  might  be  found  laid 
off  in  lots  by  actual  survey,  by  order  of  Congiess  in  the  following 
counties  in  the  State  of  Ohio:  Muskingum,  Guernsey,  Coshocton.  Tus- 
carawas and  Holmes.  Thomas  had  the  right  of  said  warrant  made  over 
to  him  in  due  form  by  John  McLain ;  but  how  much  Thomas  allowed 
him  for  his  right  I  never  knew.  As  he  was  always  silent  on  that  point, 
I  did  not  put  the  question  to  him;  but-it  was  always  my  opinion  that  he 
allowed  him  at  least  ;?I25,  the  full  amount  of  the  land  when  located  at 
,^1.25  an  acre.  But  for  the  balance  of  his  note  of  $625,  Thomas  took  an 
old  worn-out  negro,  and  took  him  down  to  Natchez  and  sold  him  low 
for  cash,  at  a  loss  of  ^200,  and  thus  the  transaction  between  Thomas 
and  John  McLain  ended. 

HOMEWARD-BOUND    FROM    THE   SOUTH. 

Thomas  then  made  preparations  for  his  journey  homeward,  and  for 
that  purpose  he  purchased  a  large,  fine-looking  horse;  but  he  was  one 
that  could  not  stand  hard  travel,  for  he  proved  afterwards  to  have  the 
ring-bone  and  spavin.  Before  he  left  Natchez,  a  Kentucky  gentleman, 
who  had  to  go  to  New  Orleans,  came  to  Thomas,  and  made  arrange- 


1818.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  155 

ments  with  him  as  a  suitable  man  to  safely  conduct  back  home  through 
the  wilderness  two  of  his  slaves,  which  he  did  not  wish  to  take  with  him 
farther  south.  He  made  out  passes  for  the  two  slaves,  and  gave  them 
into  the  hands  of  Thomas;  but  not  knowing  the  law  of  Mississippi,  he 
found  that  he  must  have  new  passes  made  out  for  his  slaves  in  compli- 
ance with  the  law,  and  countersigned  by  the  Governor;  and  as  Thomas 
and  the  slaves,  in  company  with  eight  or  ten  white  men  from  the  upper 
country,  had  already  started,  the  Kentuckian  had  to  ride  after  them  sev- 
eral miles  to  give  them  the  right  kind  of  passes.  It  was  a  long,  lonely 
journey  through  the  wilderness,  and  they  had  to  lodge  mostly  with  the 
Indians  of  the  Chickasaw  and  Cherokee  tribes.  These  tribes,  with  the 
Creeks  and  Choctaws,  were  the  most  civilized  at  that  time  (1818),  and 
they  inhabited  the  southern  part  of  Alabama  and  the  northern  part  of 
Georgia. 

Sometimes  the  two  slaves  would  get  away  ahead  of  the  rest  of  the 
company,  and  on  one  occasion  they  were  captured  as  runaway  slaves 
and  taken  to  an  Indian  agent,  as  they  were  without  passes;  but  when 
Thomas  came  up  and  showed  the  passes,  they  were  released,  and  this 
made  the  blacks  more  careful  not  to  get  too  far  ahead.  Still,  through 
the  day  they  would  sometimes  be  out  of  sight,  and  occasionally  Thomas 
could  see  a  third  negro  with  the  two  others,  which  they  believed  to  be 
a  runaway  slave. 

A    RUNAWAY   SLAVE. 

Thomas  questioned  the  two  slaves  about  this  third  one,  and  learned 
from  them  that  he  was  a  runaway  slave  from  Mississippi,  and  that  he 
was  hobbled  with  a  pair  of  iron  hobbles  ;  one  of  these  he  had  got  broken 
off,  but  the  other  was  still  on,  and  he  held  it  up  off  his  ankle  by  a  piece 
of  chain  to  which  had  been  attached  a  fifty-six  when  he  left  his  master, 
for  this  was  not  his  first  attempt  for  freedom,  but  with  stones  he  had 
broken  a  link  and  had  left  the  fifty-six  not  far  from  the  home  of  his 
master.  Thomas  told  the  negroes  to  tell  the  runaway  to  keep  out  of 
view  of  their  company,  or  some  of  the  whites  with  him  would  be  very 
apt  to  make  the  attempt  to  take  him,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  reward 
return  him  to  his  master,  and  this  advice  was  taken  by  the  runaway, 
for  the  white  company  saw  him  no  more.  Thomas  supposed  that 
he  might  yet  get  his  escape  made,  as  he  was,  at  that  time,  not  very  far 


156  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1818. 

south  of  the  State  line  of  Tennessee,  and  he  might,  with  the  assistance 
of  these  two  slaves,  get  over  into  Indiana  or  Illinois,  and  so  on  to 
Canada. 

Thomas  observed  that  it  was  no  wonder  that  a  slave  would  run  away 
at  that  time  from  the  South,  for  with  most  of  their  masters  they  were 
treated  more  like  beasts  than  human  beings,  badly  fed  and  badly 
clothed,  often  whipped,  and  that  for  mere  trifles,  and  worked  hard.  At 
that  time,  1818,  many  of  the  slave  masters  of  the  South  gave  the  poor 
slaves  each  a  peck  of  corn  for  a  week,  and  they  had  a  large  mill  at  the 
negro  quarters  made  like  a  coffee-mill.  At  this  mill  they  might  grind 
it,  and  bake  or  boil  it  in  mush,  and  no  molasses  or  milk  with  it ;  or 
they  might  beat  it  into  hominy,  and  boil  and  eat  it  in  that  way;  and 
that  was  allowing  each  slave  just  two  pounds  of  corn  for  each  day. 

After  passing  up  into  Tennessee,  Thomas  parted  with  most  of  his 
companions  in  travel  through  the  long,  lonely  wilderness,  and  he  gave 
their  master's  pass  to  the  two  slaves,  who,  with  that  in  their  hand,  could 
go  on  homeward  to  Kentucky,  going  themselves  through  Tennessee. 

Crossing  the  Mississippi  River  at  New  Madrid,  Thomas,  with  some 
of  his  comrades,  took  their  course  on  horseback  for  St.  Louis,  a  distance 
of  175  miles  by  land.  When  he  arrived  at  St.  Louis  he  had  some 
business  to  transact  with  Captain  Clark,  the  companion  of  Captain 
Lewis  in  the  exploring  expedition  undertaken  by  order  of  Congress  up 
the  Missouri  River  and  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  down  the 
Columbia  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  during  1804-5-6. 

Captain  Clark  was  at  that  time  a  government  agent,  and  was  at  that 
time,  the  latter  end  of  June,  18 18,  actively  engaged  in  making  a  treaty 
with  the  Indians, — the  chiefs  of  the  Pawpaws,  Pawnees  and  Kickapoos, 
for  the  cession  of  their  lands  lying  within  the  Missouri  Territory. 

After  two  days  spent  in  St.  Louis  Thomas  crossed  over  the  Missis- 
sippi to  the  Ilhnois  side  early  in  the  morning,  and  stopped  at  a  tavern 
near  the  ferry  for  breakfast.  Here  he  found  his  horse  so  lame  with 
ring-bone  and  spavin  that  he  left  it  with  the  landlord  rather  than  have 
any  further  trouble  with  it.  He  then  took  to  the  road  on  foot,  and  in 
due  time,  after  traveling  through  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  at  least  250  miles 
through  Ohio,  he  arrived  safe  at  home  about  the  middle  of  July,  sound 
and  healthy,  after  an  absence  of  six  months  and  a  half 


1819.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  157 


A  SECOND  TRIP   DOWN  THE   RIVER. 

During  the  spring  of  1819  Thomas  made  preparations  for  a  second 
trip  down  the  river  with  flour,  and  for  that  purpose  he  took  in  a  partner, 
a  David  Fleming,  a  nephew  of  old  Thomas  Fleming,  who  paid  for  half 
the  boat,  and  furnished  half  the  load,  and  sent  his  nephew,  David 
Fleming,  as  supercargo  or  agent.  While  Thomas  and  William  were 
building  the  boat,  I  was  busy  day  and  night  grinding  wheat  that 
Thomas  had  stored  in  the  mill  for  making  flour  for  this  trip,  and  I 
ground  every  twenty-four  hours  on  our  five  feet  Laurel  Hill  burrs  150 
bushels.  By  the  time  I  had  finished  the  flour  the  boat  was  afloat,  and 
I  sent  with  Thomas  to  help  him  along  forty  barrels  made  principally 
out  of  my  own  toll  wheat,  but  I  sent  to  my  own  loss,  for  my  flour  was 
worth  ^3.50  at  home,  and  Thomas  sold  it  for  only  $3.50,  while  I  paid 
him  out  of  the  sale  price  $2  a  barrel,  and  then  I  had  left  only  $1.50  on 
each  barrel. 

But  I  learned  wisdom  by  experience,  and  from  this  time  forward  I 
sent  no  more  flour  on  freight. 

When  they  arrived  at  Natchez  Thomas  bought  out  the  remaining  part 
of  flour  that  David  Fleming  had  on  hand,  and  so  anxious  was  the  latter 
to  be  off  that  he  sold  out  to  Thomas  at  a  bargain.  But  Fleming  trav- 
eled round  by  Philadelphia  by  ship,  where  he  purchased  store  goods 
with  his  uncle's  money,  and  had  them  hauled  out  to  Pittsburgh,  and 
shipped  thence  by  boat  down  to  Kentucky  where  he  set  up  a  store  in 
Cynthiana ;  and  it  was  some  considerable  time  before  his  Uncle  Thomas 
Fleming,  of  Smithfield,  heard  of  him. 

TRIP   FROM   NEW   ORLEANS  TO   PHILADELPHIA. 

After  Thomas  had  bought  out  Fleming's  flour,  he  had  but  poor 
encouragement  in  selling  out  at  Natchez,  and  concluded  to  coast  it 
down  to  New  Orleans,  and  sell  all  he  could  to  planters  all  the  way 
down.  He  found  ready  sales,  and  by  the  time  he  reached  New  Orleans 
he  had  sold  everything  but  the  boat  itself  The  roof,  which  was  made 
of  thin  poplar  boards,  he  sold  for  ^60,  and  the  boat  brought  $20,  which 
was  considered  a  good  sale,  for  many  boats  sold,  after  the  roof  was  off, 
for  only  ,^10. 


158  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1819. 

Thomas  then  took  a  deck  passage  on  ship  for  Philadelphia,  for  which 
he  paid  $2^.  After  landing  safe  in  Philadelphia  he  made  but  a  short 
stay  in  the  city,  but  started  on  foot,  traveling  forty  miles  each  day,  until 
he  arrived  at  my  brother  David's  residence,  in  Fayette  Co.,  Pa. 

This  was  in  July,  1 8 19,  and  the  roads  at  the  time  were  dry  and  dusty, 
and  after  traveling  seven  days  without  change  of  clothing  or  shaving 
his  beard,  he  no  doubt  looked  shabby.  It  so  happened  that  the  day 
he  arrived  there  an  elderly  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Adams,  from  nine 
miles  west  of  Massilon,  O.,  whose  wife  was  a  daughter  of  old  John 
McClelland,  had  come  on  a  visit  with  his  wife  to  my  brother  David's. 
No  doubt  Aunt  Betsy  felt  wounded  on  seeing  a  brother  of  her  husband 
coming  in  off  a  journey  from  old  Philadelphia  in  such  shabby  order, 
and  she  took  Thomas  to  task  for  coming  in  that  order,  and  asking  him 
why  he  did  not  take  the  stage  and  come  out  like  a  gentleman.  To 
which  Thomas  replied  :  "  Madam,  I  am  a  poor  man,  and  have  to  make 
my  living  by  the  sweat  of  my  brow;  they  asked  me  ten  cents  a  mile  for 
riding  in  the  stage,  and  I  have  walked  forty  miles  each  day  from 
Philadelphia,  and  made  me  $/\  a  day,  and  that  is  three  or  four  times  as 
much  as  I  can  make  at  home." 

Whether  it  was  the  occasion  which  she  took  before  the  minister  and 
his  wife,  or  the  manner  or  the  freedom,  I  know  not,  but  I  do  know  that 
he  took  it  as  an  offense  of  some  magnitude  ;  he  never  forgot  it  while  he 
lived,  and  ever  after  that  he  did  not  like  her  as  he   ought  a   sister-in-law. 

FLOUR   INSPECTION. 

When  Thomas  had  loaded  in  his  flour  for  the  trip  the  spring  of  1819, 
he  did  not  call  on  the  flour  inspector,  nor  had  he  so  much  as  one  barrel 
inspected,  as  the  greatest  loss  he  sustained  last  year  when  his  boat  was 
sunk,  was  occasioned  by  the  inspection  hole,  and  he  felt  determined,  cost 
what  it  would,  he  would  have  none  inspected. 

But  the  deputy  inspector,  Joseph  Jeffries,  was  on  the  lookout  for  all  boats 
that  took  away  flour  without  inspection,  and  Thomas  was  marked,  and  at 
the  August  term  of  court,  Jeffries  made  complaint,  and  the  grand  jury 
found  a  true  bill.  When  Thomas  was  notified  of  it,  he  was  scared,  and 
he  began  to  think  that  his  troubles  would  never  end.    It  would  seem  that 


1819.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  159 

from  the  time  he  got  his  boat  frozen  fast  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky 
River  on  his  first  trip, troubles  flowed  in  upon  him  thick  and  fast;  yet  up 
to  this  time  he  had  borne  up  under  them  all,  and  had  battled  with  them 
manfully,  but  now  he  was  like  to  shrink  away  from  them,  and  he  would 
have  done  so  if  it  had  not  been  for  my  advice.  He  came  over  to  the  mill 
immediately  to  see  me,  and  told  me  his  troubles,  and  said  he  would  take 
his  horse  and  ride  up  to  his  brother  David's  and  stay  there  till  this  case 
should  blow  over.  But  I  told  him  that  would  be  of  no  avail,  for  if  he 
staid  a  whole  year  the  parties  would  still  prosecute  him,  and  it  would  be 
far  better  to  meet  the  case.  I  advised  him  to  go  to  Steubenville  and  give 
a  lawyer  five  dollars  to  throw  him  on  the  mercy  of  the  court,  and  plead 
guilty,  and  the  court  would  fine  him  as  low  as  the  law  would  allow,  and 
then  pay  the  fine  and  he  would  be  clear.  I  saw  at  once  that  his  counte- 
nance cleared  up,  and  he  looked  cheerful,  turned  on  his  foot,  went  over 
home,  (my  uncles  William,  John  and  Thomas  lived  with  their  mother 
across  the  run  from  the  mill  on  the  west  side,  while  father  lived  on  the 
same  side  of  the  run  as  the  mill,  and  a  few  rods  above  to  the  north. — 
T.  J.  S.)  and  shaved  and  fixed  up,  and  in  a  very  short  time  was  off  to 
Steubenville  to  look  up  a  lawj'er  to  throw  him  on  the  mercy  of  the 
court.  And  the  first  that  he  met  on  the  steps  of  the  court-house  was 
old  lawyer  Doddridge  of  Wellsburg,  and  Thomas  stated  the  case  to  him 
and  handed  him  a  five  dollar  bill.  Doddridge  invest  gated  and  discov- 
ered that  Jeffries  the  inspector  had  never  lodged  his  bond  with  the  proper 
county  officer,  and  the  court  decided  that  the  office  of  inspector  was 
vacant,  and  there  was  no  case  against  Thomas,  as  he  had  on  that  account 
committed  no  breach  of  the  law. 

But  Thomas  had  experienced  so  much  loss  by  inspection  that  he  was 
bitterly  opposed  to  the  inspection  law  as  it  then  was,  and  he  drew  up  an 
amendment  to  the  law  by  which  it  should  be  left  to  the  flour  trader  to 
have  the  flour  inspected  or  not.  This  bill  he  put  into  the  hands  ot  John 
Barrett,  Esq.,  of  Wells  township,  our  member  in  the  Legislature,  and 
during  the  session  of  1820-21  it  became  the  law,  and  the  inspection 
remains  to  this  day  as  it  was  then  modified,  now  March  i,  1859. 


160  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1820. 

A  THIRD  TRIP  THE   SPRING  OF   1820. 

But  Thomas  was  not  discouraged  yet,  for  he  soon  began  to  buy  wheat 
for  another  trip  the  next  spring  of  1820,  and  he  gave  at  first  75  cents, 
but  soon  fell  to  62^  cents  a  bushel,  and  after  some  time  it  fell  to  50 
cents,  at  which  time  he  laid  in  as  much  wheat  as  he  had  cash  to  buy 
with.  Thomas  and  John  and  William  all  set  in  to  work  at  making  bed- 
steads, bureaus,  tables  and  split-bottomed  chairs,  which  Thomas  took  on 
his  trip,  for  he  had  found  by  his  trading  experience  that  such  articles 
would  sell  at  a  good  profit  in  the  coasting  trade  along  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi.  That  spring  of  1820,  he  had  made  a  trade  for  several 
barrels  of  salt,  and  he  had  brought  it  to  the  mill  and  exchanged  it  for 
wheat. 

He  put  $8  a  barrel  on  the  salt  and  50  cents  a  bushel  on  the  wheat. 
Who  ever  heard  of  16  bushels  of  wheat  for  a  barrel  of  salt?  This  price 
for  salt  was  equal  to  the  price  of  that  article  in  1780,  when  it  had  to  be 
packed  out  over  the  mountains  on  horseback.  But  I  remember  that  for 
several  years  from  the  time  the  first  salt  was  made  at  the  Onondagua 
salt  works,  until  salt  was  made  in  quantities  at  the  Kanawha  salt  works, 
the  lake  salt  so  called  sold  for  ^6  to  $8  a  barrel ;  and  the  fall  of  1820 
wheat  would  not  readily  bring  25  cents  a  bushel. 

MRS.    ELIZABETH   KITHCART'S  SECOND   MARRIAGE. 

On  January  28th,  1818,  two  days  before  Thomas  left  on  his  first  trip 
down  the  river,  I  and  my  wife  Mary  left  home  at  the  mill  to  go  to 
Fayette  County  for  the  purpose  of  being  at  the  wedding  of  her  mother, 
who  on  the  7th  day  of  February,  expected  to  be  married  to  John  Gallo- 
way ;  he  had  been  formerly  a  resident  of  Westmoreland  County,  but  at 
this  time  lived  in  Mercer  County,  Pa.  We  crossed  the  Ohio  river  in 
safety,  as  it  was  much  swollen  from  the  recent  rains,  and  was  now  run- 
ning from  bank  to  bank,  and  that  night  we  spent  with  Mary's  aunt,  Mrs. 
Sarah  Morrison,  who  still  lived  half  a  mile  this  side  of  Hickory  Village 

We  had  with  us  our  little  daughter  Mary  Ann,  now  ten  months  old, 
and  just  beginning  to  walk. 

We  stopped  on  our  way  to  see  uncle  David's,  and  then  went  on  to 
Mary's  mother's  and  found  all  in  good  health. 


1818.]  FA  MIL  Y  HIS  TORY.  161 

Before  my  wife's  mother  was  married  to  John  Galloway  she  gave  each 
of  her  children  some  part  of  her  property  that  she  had  kept  at  the 
appraisement  after  the  decease  of  her  first  husband  Joseph  Kithcart. 
To  her  eldest  daughter  Sarah,  married  to  William  Andrews,  she  gave  a 
milch  cow ;  the  same  to  Anna,  wife  of  Thomas  Andrews  ;  the  same  to 
her  eldest  son  Thomas  ;  and  as  her  third  daughter,  my  wife  Mary,  lived 
so  far  away,  and  it  would  be  inconvenient  to  drive  a  cow  80  miles  to  her 
home  in  Ohio, — and  as  she  held  a  note  of  hand  on  her  brother-in-law 
John  Morrison,  for  the  sum  of  $30  which  she  had  loaned  to  him  three 
years  previous, — and  as  her  daughter  Mary  had  received  no  cow  with 
her  outfit  after  her  marriage,  her  mother  thought  it  fair  that  Mar>-  should 
have  this  note  in  lieu  of  the  two  cows  she  was  entitled  to  to  make  her 
equal  with  her  two  older  sisters. 

This  note  was  put  into  my  hands  for  collection,  but  it  was  not  paid 
for  three  years  after  uncle  Morrison's  death,  and  when  it  was  paid  it 
amounted,  principal  and  interest,  to  ^43.  To  her  son  John  she  gave  the 
old  family  Bible ;  to  her  youngest  son  Joseph  she  gave  his  father's  silver 
watch,  which  her  son  Joseph  did  not  get  possession  of  till  long  afterwards, 
and  which  he  kept  until  his  death.  But  after  Joseph's  death  his  mother 
in  due  time  sent  word  by  me  to  Joseph's  widow  that  she  must  give  up 
that  watch,  and  the  widow  gave  it  up,  and  the  old  lady  then  gave  it  to 
her  son  Cunningham's  son  Joseph.  This  did  not  appear  to  me  to  be 
right,  knowing  that  it  had  been  given  to  her  son  Joseph  some  36  years 
before,  and  had  been  in  the  possession  of  him  and  his  family  ;  and  there 
remains  no  doubt  but  that  her  son  Joseph,  while  thus  in  possession  of 
the  watch,  might  have  swapped  it  off,  or  sold  it  to  any  one  as  best  suited 
him. 

But  the  object  of  the  old  lady  in  taking  it  away  from  the  widow  who 
had  no  male  issue  living,  was  to  keep  the  watch  in  the  male  line  of  the 
Kithcart  family. 

THE   ESTATE   OF  JOSEPH   KITHCART. 

After  the  death  of  Mary's  father,  February  24,  18 14,  the  law  allowed 
the  widow  and  children  the  use  of  the  farm  rent  free  for  one  year,  until 
administration  could  be  had  and  guardians  appointed.  For  that  purpose 
the  widow  and  her  son-in-law  William  Andrews  were  appointed  admin- 


162  THE  SHERRAKD  FAMILY.  [1818. 

istrators  ;  Jacob  Tinsmaii  was  appointed  guardian  for  the  four  minor 
children,  Thomas,  Mary,  Joseph  and  Kezia  ;  and  Thomas  Boyd  was 
appointed  guardian  for  the  other  four  minor  children,  John,  Cunningham, 
Betsy  and  Martha. 

These  guardians  acting  for  their  respective  wards  rented  the  home- 
stead farm  to  the  widow  for  two  years  at  the  very  high  rent  of  g200  a 
year.  Thomas  Kithcart  had  remained  at  home  and  worked  for  his  mother 
during  the  four  years  that  had  passed  since  the  death  of  his  father,  and 
he  had  received  no  wages  for  his  services,  except  his  victuals  and  cloth- 
ing, and  now  his  mother  felt  that  it  was  only  just  that  she  should  com- 
pensate him  for  his  services.  She  therefore  called  upon  me  to  take  an 
inventory  of  the  articles  she  wished  him  to  have,  and  I  rated  them  each 
at  a  fair  value,  which  when  added  up  made  the  sum  of  S200,  which  for 
four  years,  was  at  the  rate  of  ^50  a  year,  clothing  and  washing  and 
boarding  in. 

THE   QUESTION   OF  COXTR.^CTS   BEFORE   MARRI.\GE. 

While  I  was  engaged  making  out  the  inventory  of  the  property 
allotted  to  her  son  Thomas,  the  thought  struck  me  and  I  let  it  out  by 
saying,  meaning  no  harm:  "Mother,  I  think  that  old  folks  like  you 
and  Mr.  Galloway,  before  you  marry,  ought  to  have  an  article  of 
agreement  drawn  between  you,  that  on  the  death  of  either  of  the  parties, 
the  property  or  money  that  formerly  belonged  to  each  should  go  back 
to  the  original  owner  or  their  legal  heirs  or  representatives."  But  I  soon 
found  that  I  had  given  great  offense  to  mother-in-law,  from  the  way  in 
which  she  snubbed  me  off,  for  in  the  two  years  that  I  had  now  been 
married  to  her  daughter  I  had  never  been  treated  by  her  or  spoken  to  in 
the  way  she  now  spoke.  As  near  as  I  can  now  recollect,  she  said  : 
"  What  is  mine  is  my  own,  and  I  will  do  with  it  as  I  please.  When 
your  father-in-law  made  his  will,  he  put  a  clause  in  it,  that  if  I  married 
again  I  was  to  have  nothing  but  as  much  as  I  brought  as  an  outfit  to 
him,  and  that  was  a  coarse  tow  bed-tick,  one  bolster  case  and  two 
pillow  cases  ready  to  be  stuffed  with  straw,  one  blanket  and  two  coarse 
tow  sheets, — this  was  my  outfit  when  I  married  first,  and  by  that  will,  if 
it  had  stood,  and  I  should  marry  again,  such  would  be  my  outfit,  and 
now  I  feel  thankful  that  I  have  not  to  abide  such  a  will.     The  will  was 


1818.J  FAMILY  HISTORY.  163 

broken,  and  the  law  gave  me  what  I  have,  and  I  will  do  with  it  as  I 
please." 

The  outfit  spoken  of  by  mother  in-law  as  her  marriage  portion  was 
perhaps  as  good  or  better  than  that  of  many  others  who  married  east, 
and  then  packed  all  they  had  on  one  old  horse  over  the  mountains,  and 
settled  in  early  times  west  of  the  mountains. 

I  saw  that  she  felt  hurt  at  what  I  had  said,  but  I  could  not  help  that, 
— I  coolly  observed :  "  I  meant  no  offense  ;  I  admit  that  you  have  a 
right  to  do  with  your  own  as  it  suits  you.  If  it  all  goes  to  Galloway 
and  his  heirs,  I  and  my  wife  can  live  without  it.  I  only  expressed  my 
opinion  as  to  what  I  thought  would  be  best  in  most  cases  where  old 
folks  marry,  each  having  children  by  a  former  marriage," — and  so  the 
matter  ended,  and  I  continued  to  put  down  the  articles  and  to  put  a 
price  to  each  article. 

John  Galloway  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Kithcart  were  married  by  the  Rev. 
James  Power,  February  7,  1818  ;  the  same  who  had  baptized  her  at  two 
years  old  in  1774;  who  had  married  her  to  Joseph  Kithcart  March 
22,  1792;  who  had  married  her  daughters  Sarah,  Anna  and  Mary; 
and  who  afterwards  married  Thomas  to  Deborah  Wright  and  Betsy 
to  John  Sloneaker. 

John  Galloway  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth  Kith- 
cart was  sixty-eight  years  of  age,  and  she  was  forty-five. 

After  the  wedding  some  days  there  was  a  sale  of  stock  and  arti- 
cles of  household  and  kitchen    furniture. 

Mother-in-law  reserved  twenty-six  sheep,  worth  at  that  time,  with 
the  wool  on,  $3  a  head ;  also  one  young  mare  worth  $80,  and  these 
the  old  gentleman  took  with  him.  Besides  she  took  with  her  in  cash 
^150,  with  a  good  assortment  of  household  and  kitchen  furniture — 
articles  enough,  with  beds  and  bedding,  to  load  a  four-horse  team, 
together  with  Betsy,  Martha  and  Kezia  seated  in  the  wagon.  Their 
mother  rode  on  her  own  old  mare,  "  Kate,"  with  her  own  saddle  and 
bridle,  and  they  landed  safe  home  at  old  Mr.  Galloway's  residence  in 
Mercer  County. 

The  last  time  I  saw  the  old  gentleman  was  at  the  old  Kithcart 
homestead,  about  a  year  and  a  half  later,  as  he  had  come  there  to 
collect  some  money  due    for  articles  sold    at  the    sale   just  after  their 


164  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1818. 

marriage,   and  from  that  sale  arose  the  chief   of  the  money  she  took 
to  him. 

She  had  taken  to  herself  more  property  and  money  than  was  her 
share  of  her  deceased  husband's  estate  by  $300,  as  was  shown  ten  or 
fifteen  years  afterwards,  when  the  administrator  settled  up  the  estate 
in  the  Orphans'  Court.  On  his  way  home  at  this  time  in  September, 
1819,  he  was  taken  ill,  and  three  weeks  afterwards,  having  just  com- 
pleted and  signed  his  will,  he  suddenly  took  his  departure  from  time 
to  eternity,  but  he  was  prepared  for  the  summons.  He  had  educated 
and  left  a  son  who  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  survived  his  father 
only  two  or  three  years ;  this  minister  of  the  gospel  was  married  to  a 
daughter  of  a  Mr.  Junkin,  of  Mercer  County,  who  was  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolution,  and  he  raised  up  two  sons  who  became  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel in  the  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church  (these  were  the  Rev.  George 
Junkin,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  David  X.  Junkin,  D.D.)  and  a  third  son, 
Matthew  O.  Junkin,  who  now  lives  in  Steubenville.  And  besides  the 
daughter  that  was  married  to  the  Rev.  Mr,  Galloway,  old  Mr.  Junkin 
had  another  daughter  married  to  the  Rev.  George  Buchanan,  who  for 
forty  years  was  pastor  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  of  Steuben- 
ville, and  he  in  turn  had  two  sons  who  became  preachers. 

SEQUEL   TO   THE    STORY   OF    MARRIAGE   CONTRACTS. 

After  the  death  of  old  Mr.  Galloway,  mother-in-law  soon  began  to 
find  that  their  home  in  the  Galloway  mansion-house  would  be  no  longer 
home  for  them  ;  his  will  left  her  §600  in  lieu  of  dower,  which  she  ac- 
cepted, and  with  that  money  in  prospect  she  might  seek  her  old  home 
on  the  first  husband's  property,  which  she  did. 

In  October  of  that  year  (1819)  I  visited  her  and  her  daughters  on  the 
old  Kithcart  homestead  after  their  return  from  Mercer  County.  I  had 
made  no  inquiry  respecting  John  Galloway's  will,  but  of  her  own  accord 
she  commenced  and  told  me  all  about  his  will,  and  the  sum  of  $600  left 
her  in  lieu  of  dower.  And  then  she  observed  that  she  came  away  from 
Galloway's  farm  ^300  worse  than  she  went ;  and  then  she  burst  out  and 
cried,  saying  that  she  now  wished  she  had  taken  my  plan,  which  was, 
that  when  two  old  folks  married,  they  ought  to  article  and  agree  that  if 


181S.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  165 

death  parted  them,  the  property  of  each  should  go  back  the  way  it 
came ;  she  said  she  could  now  see  the  propriety  of  such  an  agree- 
ment. 

For,  said  she :  There  was  that  young  mare,  he  was  offered  gSo  for 
her  and  he  refused  to  take  it,  saying  she  was  worth  $ioo,  and  the  twenty- 
six  choice  sheep,  worth  §3  each,  that  he  got  of  my  property ;  and  the 
money  that  was  due  for  my  property,  sold  at  the  vendue  after  he  and  I 
got  married,  he  collected  and  kept.  She  went  on  to  state  that  there  had 
been  a  long  web  of  flannel  made  from  wool  off  her  own  sheep,  and  made 
principally  by  her  own  hands ;  this  web  was  made  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  clothing  herself  and  her  own  three  girls,  and  a  daughter  of  John 
Galloway,  and  he,  before  his  death  a  very  short  time  and  after  his  will 
was  drawn,  said  to  William  Rankin,  one  of  his  appointed  executors : 
"  Now  there  stands  that  web  of  flannel  for  the  use  of  the  women  of  the 
family ;  it  was  made  for  them,  and  I  allow  it  to  go  for  their  use,  and 
although  it  is  not  mentioned  in  my  will,  that  makes  no  odds,  it  must  go  for 
their  use."  "  Well,  after  his  decease  there  stood  the  web  of  flannel  uncut 
or  not  made  up  into  garments,  and  the  appraisers  of  the  estate  finding  it 
there  took  and  appraised  it  as  part  of  the  goods  of  the  estate,  and  it  was 
afterwards  put  up  at  the  sale  and  sold  for  what  it  would  bring.  And  so 
I  and  my  girls  lost  our  winter  clothing,  and  came  away  back  to  our  old 
home  with  little  clothing."  I  said  to  her,  "Why  did  the  executors  and 
appraisers  refuse  to  be  guided  by  Mr.  Galloway's  verbal  will  ?  "  "  Why," 
she  answered,  "  they  said  if  the  flannel  had  been  cut  into  dresses, 
although  not  made  up,  in  that  case,  according  to  law,  they  could  not 
have  appraised  it,  for  it  would  then  have  been  considered  a  part  of  the 
family  clothing." 

CROSSING   THE   ICE   AT   CONNELLSVILLE. 

But  I  must  now  go  back  to  the  vendue  that  mother-in-law  made  after 
her  marriage  with  Mr.  Galloway.  Two  days  after  the  sale  I  and  Mary 
bade  adieu  to  her  mother  and  other  friends  and  pursued  our  way  home. 
But  when  we  came  to  Connellsville,  it  seemed  dangerous  to  attempt  to 
cross  the  river.  There  was  no  bridge  at  that  time  over  the  Youghi- 
ogheny  river,  and  when  it  was  not  frozen  over  it  was  most  of  the  year 
forded  on  horseback  or  in  wagons,  but  during  the  hard  freeze  that  set  in 


166  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1818. 

the  first  week  in  February  that  year,  1818,  it  froze  over  so  sohd  that 
there  was  a  free  bridge  over  the  river  for  three  weeks. 

I  had  crossed  and  re-crossed  it  some  days  before  on  a  visit  to  my 
brother  David's  and  uncle  Cathcart's,  but  now  when  I  and  Mary  and 
the  baby,  Mary  Ann,  came  to  the  river  and  looked  at  the  place  where  I 
and  others  had  crossed,  the  ice  had  sunk  in  a  dish  form,  and  the  water 
was  lying  some  inches  deep  over  the  sunken  part,  so  that  I  was  afraid  to 
attempt  the  crossing  without  a  guide. 

Seeing  a  man  not  far  off,  I  called  to  him  to  know  if  it  was  safe  to 
cross  on  the  ice,  and  he  said  it  was  if  I  would  pass  round  in  a  certain 
direction.  I  told  him  if  he  would  first  lead  the  two  horses  safe  over,  and 
then  come  back  and  conduct  us  safe  over,  I  would  give  him  $\  for  his 
trouble.  He  consented,  and  took  the  horses  over,  and  returned  and 
took  Mary  Ann  in  his  arms  and  conducted  us  safe  around  the  bend  of 
the  sunken  ice  on  high  solid  ice,  and  I  paid  him  his  dollar,  glad  to  get 
safe  over.  We  stopped  that  night  with  my  brother  David,  and  the  next 
day  came  on  to  Brownsville,  where  we  could  have  crossed  the  river  on 
the  ice  that  evening,  for  there  was  no  bridge  at  that  time  over  the  Mon- 
ongahela  river  at  Brownsville,  except  this  ice  bridge.  But  we  stopped 
that  night  to  visit  my  cousin,  John  Johnston,  and  when  I  arose  the  next 
morning  and  looked  out  of  the  window  to  see  what  the  ice  was  like  now, 
behold  !  it  was  broken  into  many  thousands  and  millions  of  pieces  which 
were  pushing  one  another  onward,  and  tumbling  about  in  a  manner  that 
would  not  warrant  any  man,  beast,  boat  or  craft  to  attempt  to  cross  and 
e.xpect  to  live  among  the  ice ;  so  we  had  to  content  ourselves  during  the 
day  and  another  night  with  my  cousin  Johnston  and  his  very  worthy 
family. 

The  next  day  we  were  able  to  cross  the  river  by  the  ferry,  and  we 
came  on  to  Samuel  Fry's  residence,  one  mile  east  of  Beallsville.  It  was 
late  the  next  day  when  we  left  Fry's,  and  as  the  traveling  proved  to  be 
bad,  dark  night  overtook  us  five  miles  from  Hickory,  near  which  Mary's 
aunt,  Sarah  Morrison,  lived ;  and,  to  add  to  our  ve.xation  and  trouble, 
Mary  Ann,  who  was  now  only  eleven  months  old,  woke  up,  being  tired 
of  riding,  as  I  had  to  carry  her  before  me  on  a  pillow;  and  the  child, 
finding  it  dark,  began  to  cry  and  scream,  and  although  I  gave  her  over 
to  her  mother,  yet  she  refused   to  be  comforted ;  but  we  persevered,  and 


1818.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  167 

by  and  by  reached  aunt  Morrison's.  The  next  day  we  reached  home, 
and  I  felt  glad  to  be  relieved  from  traveling  and  carrying  a  baby  before 
me,  as  I  was  compelled  to  do  the  two  last  visits  Mary  and  I  made  to  her 
mother's. 

This  I  had  to  do  of  necessity,  as  this  mode  of  travel  on  horseback, 
and  this  mode  of  carrying  small  children,  was  heretofore  and  at  that 
time,  in  1818,  common  all  abroad  in  the  country  west  of  the  mountains. 
Improvement  and  refinement  and  wealth  had  not  as  yet  made  much  ad- 
vance ;  roads  were  steep  and  bad,  and  wagons  and  dearborns,  to  say 
nothing  of  buggies  and  carriages,  were  not  introduced  yet,  and  at  the 
time  here  spoken  of  it  was  thought  no  shame  for  a  man  to  carry  his 
child  on  a  pillow  before  him,  go  where  he  would. 

KATY   FERGUSON'S  WEDDIXG. 

Some  time  the  early  part  of  June,  1818,  I  and  wife,  and  William  and 
John,  were  all  invited  to  the  wedding  of  our  second  cousin,  Katy  Fer- 
guson, eldest  daughter  of  William  Ferguson,  who  lived  at  that  time  a 
short  distance  from  Harrisville,  six  miles  west  of  Mount  Pleasant. 

Thomas  had  not  yet  returned  from  bis  Orleans  trading  trip,  and  John 
would  not  go,  but  I  and  Mary  and  William  went  over  the  evening  before, 
for  if  we  detained  till  the  morning  of  the  marriage,  we  could  not  reach 
the  place  in  time,  as  it  was  fourteen  miles  we  had  to  go.  The  groom  was 
an  old  bachelor  of  fifty-eight  and  the  bride  was  thirty-seven  years  of  age, 
and  they  were  married  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson.  The  name  of  the 
groom  was  William  Boggs,  and  he  lived  near  Cambridge,  in  Guernsey 
County.  The  morning  after  the  wedding  the  bride  and  groom  and  the 
infare  party  left,  and  I,  and  my  wife,  Mary,  and  William  returned  home 
that  evening,  and  thus  ended  that  wedding.  The  morning  the  marriage 
was  to  take  place  the  bride  came  to  me  and  insisted  that  I  should  go  as 
the  leader  of  a  gang  of  young  men  to  meet  the  groom  and  his  party, — I 
demurred,  but  agreed  and  went. 

On  the  nth  day  of  August  this  year,  1818,  our  second  child  was 
born,  a  boy,  and  as  I  had  named  our  first-born,  a  daughter,  Mary  Ann 
for  my  mother,  Mary  Cathcart.  and  my  grandmother,  Ann  Gamble  Cath- 
cart,  so  now  my  wife  Mary  named  this,  our  first  son,  Joseph  Kithcart 
Sherrard  for  her  own  father. 


168  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1819. 

In  June  of  the  year  1819,  I  and  Mary  my  wife  left  home  and  visited 
the  friends  once  more  in  Fayette  County. 

We  left  Mary  Ann,  who  was  now  two  years  old,  with  her  grandmother 
Sherrard,  and  I  carried  Joseph,  who  was  now  ten  months  old,  on  a  pillow 
before  me  as  usual.  We  found  all  the  friends  well,  but  Marj'  missed  her 
mother,  who  was  now  married  and  living  in  Mercer  County,  Pa.,  and  she 
would  rather  have  seen  her  than  all  the  other  connections  together. 
While  on  this  visit  I  went  to  Uniontown  and  obtained  an  order  of  Court 
to  sell  the  old  Kithcart  homestead,  and  I  advertised  the  same  for  sale  on 
a  certain  day  in  September,  1819.  After  an  absence  of  three  weeks  we 
returned  home. 

The  following  September  I  returned  to  Fayette  County  to  be  present 
at  the  sale  of  the  old  Kithcart  homestead,  but  on  the  day  appointed  there 
were  no  bidders  present,  and  no  sale  took  place.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
I  saw  old  Mr.  Galloway  for  the  last  time,  little  thinking  that  I  should 
never  again  look  on  his  benevolent  face. 

After  a  stay  of  eight  days  in  Fayette  County,  I  returned  home,  but  on 
my  way  back  I  came  to  Wellsburg  about  1 1  o'clock  on  a  moonlight 
night,  and  passed  on  below  town  about  two  miles  to  old  Walter  Cain's 
ferry.  The  ferry  was  kept  by  a  man  named  McMullen,  but  he  would 
not  get  up  and  ferry  me  over  the  river  for  the  extra  pay  that  I  offered 
him,  for  he  said  that  he  would  not  get  up  at  that  late  hour  for  any  man 
or  for  any  price. 

SWIMMING   THE   OHIO   RIVER. 

I  then  attempted  to  ford  the  river  at  Pumphrey's  bar ;  for  some  time 
the  v/ater  was  but  shallow,  but  it  began  to  get  deeper  and  deeper,  till  the 
mare  I  rode  had  gone  about  half  way  over,  when  she  stopped  stone  still, 
and  there  I  sat  with  the  water  running  over  my  saddle  under  me,  and  I 
had  to  draw  up  a  tight  rein  to  keep  the  mare's  head  out  of  the  water. 
Although  the  moon  shone  but  dim  through  thin  fleecy  clouds,  I  could 
see  a  part  of  Pumphrey's  bar  above  the  water  some  thirty  (»r  forty  rods 
below  me,  and  to  gain  the  bar  I  turned  the  mares  head  down  the  stream 
with  full  intention  to  make  the  bar,  and  then  try  to  find  my  way  out,  but 
I  could  not  get  the  mare  to  move  one  foot.  I  then  tried  to  turn  her 
head  toward  the  Virginia  shore,  but  she  still  would   not  move.     I  now 


1819.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.      ■-  169 

thought  that  the  mare  wanted  home  as  well  as  I,  and  that  she  would 
swim  if  she  had  headway. 

I  then  buttoned  up  my  great  coat,  so  that  if  the  mare  floundered  I 
would  swim,  and  I  imagined  that  the  coat  floating  on  the  water  would 
assist  to  bear  me  up. 

But  I  now,  February  21,  1859,  believe  I  was  wrong  in  keeping  my 
great  coat  on ;  I  ought  to  have  pulled  it  off,  but  I  did  not.  I  let  the 
bridle-rein  loose,  and  and  took  fast  hold  of  the  mane,  and  the  moment 
the  mare  found  herself  free  of  restraint,  she  raised  on  her  hind  feet, 
turned  again  straight  across  the  river,  and  darted  off,  swimming  most 
beautifully  until  she  landed  me  safe  on  the  Ohio  side.  Although  wet  up 
to  the  watch  fob,  I  arrived  home  safe  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
waked  Mary  up  to  unbolt  the  door,  and  without  waiting  to  eat  or  refresh 
myself,  I  retired  to  rest  and  was  soon  fast  asleep,  after  thanking  God  for 
bringing  me  safe  across  the  Ohio  River  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  when 
I  might  have  been  drowned  and  no  one  would  have  known  when  or 
where  to  look  for  me. 

BUILDING   AN   ADDITION   TO   THE   HOUSE. 

During  this  summer  of  1819,  I  was  employed  when  at  home  in  fram- 
ing a  small  building  and  weather-boarding  the  same.  It  was  built  as  an 
additional  room  to  the  house  in  which  we  lived,  and  was  fifteen  feet 
square,  but  as  I  had  to  be  absent  frequently  that  summer  on  business,  I 
found  I  had  not  time  to  shingle  it ;  so  I  let  out  the  making  of  the 
shingles  and  driving  on  the  same,  for  which  I  paid  Abel  Ashby  six 
dollars.  After  I  had  the  frame  weather-boarded,  as  I  had  John  Scott 
hired  by  the  month  and  no  other  work  for  him  to  do  just  at  that  time,  I 
had  him  work  clay  up  in  a  rough  manner,  and  fill  in  from  the  sill  to  the 
top  of  the  joists,  and  this  caused  the  room,  when  finished,  to  be  one  of 
the  warmest  I  ever  occupied. 

And  I  made  further  addition  to  the  heat  of  the  room  by  having  it 
lined  with  boards  all  round  and  under  the  joists,  and  the  under  story  was 
only  seven  feet  high  ;  I  also  bought  brick  at  Centreville,  from  old  Tom 
Johnson,  and  had  a  good  chimney  built,  and  a  two-foot  grate  put  in,  and 
the  following  winter  we  enjoyed  ourselves  more  comfortably  than  for 
three  winters  previous  to  that  time. 


170  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1819. 


A   TRIP  TO   MERCER  COUNTY. 

In  October,  i8ig,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Galloway,  and  before  mother- 
in-law  had  decided  to  leave  the  Galloway  homestead  and  return  to  Fay- 
ette County,  her  daughter  Betsy  wrote  to  me  that  if  I  would  come  up  to 
Mercer  County  for  her,  she  would  come  and  live  with  her  sister  Mary. 

Mary  was  so  glad  of  this  offer  that  she  wished  me  to  go  at  once  for 
her  sister.  I  prepared  and  left  home  immediately  and  took  the  road  to 
Steubenville,  crossed  at  the  upper  ferry,  took  the  Pittsburgh  road 
through  the  Cove,  and  onward  to  Briceland's  cross  roads,  now  Florence, 
and  there  turned  square  off  to  the  left  and  took  the  Georgetown  road 
through  Frankford,  and  when  I  got  several  miles  beyond  that  town  I 
came  into  a  region  of  very  poor  land.  By  evening  I  reached  and  crossed 
the  ferry  opposite  to  Beaver  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Beaver  River. 

Here  I  stopped  for  the  night  at  a  tavern,  and  the  next  morning  I  went 
on  up  the  Big  Beaver  seventeen  miles  to  uncle  Benjamin  Cunningham's. 
As  it  was  then  Friday  at  noon,  I  staid  with  uncle  Benjamin  until  Satur- 
day after  dinner,  when  he  accompanied  me  to  uncle  William  Cunning- 
ham's, where  I  staid  till  Monday  morning. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    IN    EARLY    TIMES. 

On  that  Sabbath  they  had  no  preaching  at  their  meeting-house,  but 
about  nine  o'clock  Uncle  Benjamin  came  along  with  his  young  people, 
and  took  with  him  Uncle  William's  young  people,  and  they  passed  on 
to  the  meeting-house  where  they  held  Sunday-school,  a  rather  new 
thing,  and  not  yet  extensively  established  over  the  western  country. 

The  superintendent  gave  the  young  scholars  so  many  verses  in  the 
Old  or  New  Testament,  or  so  many  verses  of  psalms  or  hymns  from 
Dr.  Watts'  version  to  commit  to  memory.  This  Sunday-school  had 
been  in  operation  only  since  May,  1S19,  and  up  to  the  time  that  I  was 
there  in  October,  many  of  the  young  people  of  both  sexes  had  com- 
mitted as  many  as  800  verses  of  Scripture,  and  an  equal  number  of 
verses  of  psalms  and  hymns. 

I  learned  from  the  Cunninghams  that  their  sister,  my  mother-in-law, 
after  the  death  of  her  husband,  John '  Galloway,  had  already  returned 
with  her  three  daughters,  Betsy,  Martha  and   Kezia,  to  the  old  Kith- 


1819.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  171 

cart  homestead;  but  this  did  not  change  my  intention  of  bringing  Betsy- 
down  to  live  with  her  sister  Mary,  and  I  therefore  concluded  to  go  on 
to  Fayette  County  by  way  of  Pittsburgh. 

Therefore,  on  Monday  morning  I  took  my  course  for  Pittsburgh, 
which  was  said  to  be  distant  fifty  miles,  and  for  some  miles  the  road  lay 
through  a  beautiful  and  productive  country,  but  at  length  I  got  into 
extensive  barrens,  which  continued  for  many  miles  without  a  house 
or  any  land  fenced  in. 

NARROW   ESCAPE   ON   ALLEGHENY   BRIDGE. 

It  was  beginning  to  be  dusk  when  I  arrived  at  the  end  of  the  Alle- 
gheny bridge  opposite  to  Pittsburgh,  and  seeing  a  man  standing  near  the 
end  of  the  bridge,  I  asked  him  if  the  bridge  was  in  a  condition  to  be 
crossed. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  he,  "  it  is,  for  they  have  had  a  great  dinner  on  it  this 
day,  and  you  can  pass  over  on  it." 

I  felt  sure  the  man  was  telling  me  the  truth,  and  so  far  as  I  could  see 
in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  the  tables  occupied  the  right  hand  avenue, 
and  the  left  as  far  as  I  could  see  was  laid  with  a  good  floor  of  plank  two 
or  more  inches  thick.  I  further  asked  the  man,  who,  by  the  brogue  on 
his  tongue,  I  took  to  be  a  native  Irishman,  if  there  was  any  toll  to  pay, 
and  he  replied :  "  No,  there  is  no  towl  to  be  paid  this  day,  for  shure  this 
is  a  public  day,  and  ivery  one  goes  free  the  day."  I  spurred  my  mare 
on  to  the  new  bridge,  proud  of  having  a  chance  to  cross  the  same ;  on 
my  right  hand  in  the  right  hand  avenue  pine  plank  were  laid  on  trestles 
for  perhaps  the  distance  of  150  feet,  but  horror  of  horrors!  to  my 
astonishment,  amazement  and  wonder,  when  my  mare  had  arrived  just 
half  way  over  this  new  bridge  she  stepped  on  a  very  narrow  passage- 
way of  the  latter  half  of  the  bridge. 

This  consisted  of  only  two  middle  sleepers  hewed  and  laid  close  to 
each  other,  and  the  upper  surface  of  each  sleeper  seemed  to  be  about 
eighteen  inches  broad,  which  would  give  three  feet  of  a  passage-way 
for  the  mare  to  walk  on. 

She  had  advanced  but  a  little  way  on  this  new  and  narrow  passage- 
way, when  I  first  perceived  that  there  was  no  plank  on  either  my  right 
hand  or  left,  and  there  on  either  hand  below  was  an  awful  gulf,-  so  that 


172  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1819. 

if  tlie  mare  would  slip  or  make  a  blunder,  we  would  both  in  a  moment 
of  time  be  hurled  an  awful  distance  to  the  bottom  of  the  river  below. 
I  might  think  and  reflect,  but  I  could  only  ask  God  to  preserve  and 
bring  me  safe  over,  for  I  could  not  turn  back,  nor  could  I  dismount,  as 
the  passage  was  too  narrow  for  that.  I  could  only  let  the  mare  go  on, 
while  I  must  await  the  issue ;  but  I  was  not  long  kept  in  suspense  and 
dread,  for  it  required  but  a  few  minutes'  walk  till  I  was  safe  at  the  St. 
Clair  Street  end  of  the  bridge  in  Pittsburgh.  I  returned  thanks  to  God 
for  His  almighty  preservation  through  the  danger  just  passed,  and  I 
have  always  considered  it  a  greater  risk  to  travel  half  away  across  the 
Allegheny  River  on  logs  three  feet  broad  than  to  have  the  same  mare  to 
swim  and  carry  me  on  her  back  half  way  across  the  Ohio  River. 

I  took  courage,  and  went  on  my  way  rejoicing,  never  doubting  but 
that  if  God  had  more  work  for  me  to  do,  he  would  preserve  me  to  do  it, 
and  he  has  thus  preserved  me  for  nearly  forty  years  since  that  narrow 
escape  took  place;  and  God  has  not  only  kept  me  until  now,  Tuesday, 
February  22,  1859,  but  he  has  given  me  a  great  deal  of  work  to  do; 
and  be  it  done  well  or  ill,  I  must  render  an  account  of  my  steward- 
ship. 

After  landing  safely  in  Pittsburgh,  I  rode  up  Liberty  Street,  and  on 
out  as  far  as  East  Liberty,  five  miles  out  from  Pittsburgh,  which  made 
fifty-five  miles  the  dun  mare  had  carried  me  that  day.  I  put  up  at  a 
very  good  tavern, — the  only  one  in  the  place  at  that  time,  where  I  had 
supper,  of  which  I  was  much  in  need.  Next  morning  I  rode  on  seven 
or  eight  miles  to  Neal's  tavern  on  the  Turtle  Creek  hill  east,  where  1 
took  breakfast,  as  it  was  customary  in  those  early  times  for  travelers  to 
rise  early,  pay  their  bill,  and  travel  onward  a  few  miles,  and  feed  horses, 
and  take  breakfast. 

I  then  passed  on,  and  arrived  safely  at  the  old  Kithcart  homestead, 
and  found  the  friends  all  well ;  but  I  found  that  my  long  journey  was 
all  for  nothing,  for  Betsy,  who  was  now  back  among  her  old  asso- 
ciates, could  not  be  persuaded  at  all  to  come  and  live  with  her  sister 
Mary. 

But  mother-in-law  said  that  as  Betsy  would  not  go,  and  as  she  had 
never  been  down  to  see  Mary  at  her  own  house,  she  would  go  with  me, 
and  so  she  did. 


1810-1819.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  173 

Mary  was  exceedingly  glad  to  see  her  mother;  for  it  was  now  twenty- 
one  months  since  they  had  been  separated,  and  her  mother  staid  with 
us  two  weeks,  and  then  went  home. 

CHURCH  RELATIONS  .\T  CENTRE. 

During  these  years  past,  since  our  removal  to  Rush  Run,  we  had 
attended  church  services  at  Centre  under  the  ministrations  of  the  Rev. 
Abram  Scott.  He  had  been  called  as  pastor  for  a  period  of  four  years 
from  May,  i8io. 

This  call  was  for  only  one-half  his  time  at  a  salary  of  fifty  pounds 
per  annum,  but  even  that  was  not  fully  collected  and  paid  over  to  him. 
For  two  years  the  services  were  held  in  a  frame  tent  set  up  against  a 
sugar  tree,  but  on  the  i6th  day  of  June,  1812,  a  hewed  log  meeting- 
house was  raised,  which  was  thirty  feet  square,  and  after  that  the  old 
tent  was  used  only  on  sacramental  occasions,  but  it  was  finally  blown 
down  and  broken  by  the  wind  in  1836.  As  the  time  for  which  the 
Rev.  Abram  Scott  had  been  engaged  drew  near  the  close,  a  congrega- 
tional meeting  was  held  on  April  29,  1814,  to  make  arrangements  for 
continuing  services  for  the  congregation.  I  was  sent  up  to  the  meeting 
as  a  representative  from  our  family,  and  I  was  appointed  to  act  as 
secretary  of  the  meeting. 

Mr.  Scott  was  chosen  to  act  as  supply  till  the  fall  meeting  of  Presby- 
tery, but  the  action  of  the  meeting  gave  dissatisfaction  to  some  of  the 
people  who  were  not  at  the  meeting,  and  the  result  was  that  the  Rev. 
Abram  Scott  never  again  acted  as  supply  of  the  church,  although  he 
continued  to  live  on  his  farm  in  the  bounds  of  the  congregation.  But 
in  consequence  of  the  dissension  in  the  congregation  over  this  matter, 
there  was  much  barrenness  and  unfruitfulness  in  Centre  Church  for  the 
space  of  si.x  or  seven  years,  during  which  time  there  was  little  preaching 
and  the  gospel  ordinances  were  not  often  dispensed,  until  the  spring  of 
1 82 1,  when  the  Rev.  Jacob  Cozard  was  invited  to  preach  on  trial  for 
si.x  months,  which  he  did  to  acceptance. 

PAYING   CHURCH   DUES. 

It  was  during  that  time  after  Mr.  Scott  had  been  rejected  by  the 
congregation  that  I   was  asked  to  pay  my  subscription,  which  had  been 


174  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1810-1819. 

made  on  the  understanding  that  Mr.  Scott  was  to  be  employed  in 
accordance  with  the  action  of  the  congregational  meeting,  April  29, 
18 14,  and  I  refused  to  pay  until  I  had  asked  Mr.  Scott  what  to  do,  after 
the  way  that  he  had  been  treated.  But  he  replied  :  "  Pay  it  over  to 
them  ;  let  them  have  it,  and  make  no  disturbance  in  the  congregation  ; 
it  is  but  weak  at  best,  and  do  you  strive  to  strengthen  and  uphold  and 
keep  it  together;  make  no  strife  on  my  account." 

And  now  that  nearly  half  a  century  has  passed  since  that  advice  was 
given,  yet  that  advice  remains  as  a  memorial  of  Mr.  Scott's  Christian 
character  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  And  I  declare  it  did  me  more 
good  than  any  of  his  sermons  I  had  ever  listened  to.  His  conduct  in 
that  case  was  truly  noble  and  disinterested.  It  did  me  good,  and  has  been 
truly  of  benefit  to  me  in  the  long  years  that  have  rolled  over  me  since. 
For  I  have  made  it  a  point,  let  who  would  find  fault  with  their  pastor,  or 
make  a  disturbance  in  the  congregation,  I  was  at  my  stand-point  ready 
to  meet  difficulties,  and  roll  off  every  imaginary  grievance,  whether  the 
complaint  was  levelled  against  the  minister,  elders,  or  lay  members. 

And  let  who  will  make  trial  of  such  a  course,  they  will  find  the  longer 
they  pursue  it,  the  more  they  will  find  they  are  pursuing  the  right 
course  for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  church  to  which  they  belong. 

OUR   CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP. 

After  our  marriage,  January  25th,  1816,  my  wife  Mary,  brought  her 
certificate  of  church  membership  from  the  Mount  Pleasant  church,  West- 
moreland County,  and  the  summer  of  that  year  she  was  received  as  a 
member  of  Centre. 

The  next  year,  during  the  summer  of  18 17, 1  made  application  to  the 
Rev.  Abram  Scott,  as  he  was  not  preaching  at  Centre,  and  there  was  no 
pastor  there,  to  appoint  a  day  to  preach  at  the  house  of  our  mother  at 
Rush  Run,  and  then  and  there  baptize  our  daughter  Mary  Ann. 

This  he  refused  to  do  unless  I  would  first  obtain  the  consent  of  the 
two  Elders  of  Centre  Church — John  Jackson  and  John  Hindman.  On 
my  application  to  them  they  freely  gave  their  consent,  not  only  that  he 
might  preach  and  baptize  the  child,  but  that  he  might  moderate  the  Ses- 
sion for  the  examination  of  myself  and  my  brothers,  John  and  Phomas, 


1820.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  175 

as  candidates  for  membership  in  the  Centre  Church,  and  the  Sabbatli 
week  was  appointed. 

The  service  was  announced  throughout  the  neighborhood,  and  on  the 
Sabbath  appointed  in  September,  1817,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Scott  was  present, 
and  his  wife,  and  the  two  elders  and  their  wives,  and  a  very  respectable 
congregation  from  the  surrounding  neighborhood  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, embracing  a  goodly  number  of  members  of  Centre  congregation. 
Mr.  Scott  first  preached,  and  then  baptized  the  child  Mary  Ann,  then  si.x 
months  old,  after  which  he  dismissed  the  congregation. 

The  Session  then  convened,  and  we  three  brothers,  John,  Thomas  and 
myself,  were  examined  as  to  our  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  and  ex- 
perimental religion,  after  which  we  were  received  by  the  Session  as 
members  in  full  communion  of  Centre  Church. 

The  Rev.  James  Dunn,  a  suspended  preacher  from  Ireland,  came  out 
to  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  the  spring  of  1794,  and  commenced  preaching, 
baptizing  and  marrying  around  Mason's  old  Furnace.  The  fall  of  1794 
my  father  had  Dunn  come  and  preach  at  his  house,  when  uncle  and  aunt 
Cathcart  brought  my  brother  David  over,  and  David,  John,  Thomas  and 
myself  were  all  baptized  by  Dunn. 

But  in  after  years,  when  these  boys  applied  to  join  the  Presbyterian 
church,  their  baptism  was  disputed,  on  the  ground  that  the  baptism  of 
Dunn  was  not  valid,  because  he  was  a  suspended  minister.  Thereupon 
David  was  rebaptized  at  Laurel  Hill  by  the  Rev.  James  Guthrie,  and 
John,  Thomas  and  I  were  re-baptized  by  the  Rev.  Abram  Scott  the  fall 
of  1817,  when  we  joined  Centre. 

My  brother  William  had  been  baptized  in  infancy  by  a  regular  min- 
ister of  the  Episcopal  church,  in  which  my  mother  and  uncle  and  aunt 
Cathcart  had  been  brought  up,  and  to  which  they  belonged  in  Ireland. 
But  as  no  such  church  had  been  organized  in  the  neighborhood  where 
they  lived,  they  remained  for  many  years  out  of  the  pale  of  any  church. 
And  this  may  account  in  some  measure  for  their  submitting  to  have  the 
children  baptized  by  Mr.  Dunn,  not  knowing  but  what  his  official  acts 
were  as  good,  legal  and  binding  as  those  of  any  other  minister  of  the 
gospel. 

On  the  loth  day  of  January,  1820,  our  third  child  and  second  son  was 
born  into  this  world  of  trouble,  and   he  has  had  some  share  of  it  in  buf- 


176  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1820. 

feting  the  world  now  going  on  forty  years.  He  was  from  the  first  the 
heartiest  and  strongest  child  that  we  had  yet  had,  and  we  named  him 
David  Alexander  Cathcart,  for  my  brother  David,  of  Fayette  County,  Pa. 

FOURTH   TRIP   DOWN   THE   RIVER. 

During  the  fall  of  1820  Thomas  was  very  busy  with  our  brother 
William  building  Orleans  boats,  as  Thomas  had  persuaded  William  to 
go  with  him  on  his  fourth  trip  down  the  river.  But  as  Thomas  had  for 
some  time  been  engaged  to  be  married  to  his  second-cousin,  Rebecca 
Conn,  it  was  arranged  that  they  should  be  married  before  he  started  on 
this  trip.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Alexander  Conn,  who  lived  on 
King's  Creek,  near  Ralston's  Mill,  and  her  mother's  maiden  name  was 
Mary  Gamble,  daughter  of  Andrew  Gamble  of  Thunder  Hill,  New  Lon- 
don Cross  Roads,  Chester  Co.,  Pa.,  who  was  my  grand-mother,  Ann 
Gamble's,  youngest  brother.  Rebecca  Conn  was  at  this  time  staying 
with  her  aunt  Mrs.  Conn,  in  Steubenville,  and  as  she  was  not  yet  of  age, 
Thomas  took  her  across  into  Pennsylvania  to  Middletown,  where  they 
were  married  by  'Squire  Buchanan  on  September  20th,  1820.  The  ne.xt 
day  they  came  over  to  our  house  at  Rush  Run,  where  my  wife  Mary 
had  prepared  for  them  an  infare  dinner  in  good  style,  for  which  I  had 
gone  about  making  ample  provision  to  have  a  dinner  suitable  in  every 
respect,  and  worthy  of  a  prince  to  sit  down  to  eat. 

They  remained  with  us  for  two  weeks,  and  as  the  boats  were  now 
nearly  ready,  Thomas  took  his  new  wife  Rebecca  up  to  Steubenville, 
and  left  her  to  board  with  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Conn. 

About  a  week  or  ten  days  before  William  and  Thomas  started,  I 
went  over  to  their  yard,  and  found  William  standing  and  leaning  against 
the  fence,  looking  very  much  down-hearted.  Thomas  came  out  at  this 
time  and  joined  him,  and  I  heard  William  tell  Thomas  that  he  believed 
he  would  not  go  on  the  trip  to  New  Orleans,  but  would  sell  his  boat 
and  stay  at  home.  Thomas  would  not  hear  to  this,  but  turned  in  and 
rallied  William,  and  prevailed  on  him  to  carry  out  his  plan,  and  after 
that  I  heard  nothing  about  his  selling  his  boat  and  abandoning  the 
trip. 

Why  it  was  that  William  felt  so  depressed  in  mind  that  he  would  be 
willing  to  sell  his  boat  and  give  up  the  trip,  I  know  not;  it  might  be 


1820.]  FAMILY   HISTORY.  177 

that  he  had  a  presentiment  that  he  would  never  return,  or  something 
else  that  caused  such  a  conflict  of  mind,  the  cause  of  whicli  I  never 
knew,  and  will  not  know  this  side  of  time. 

^  BO.\TS   OFF   OCTOBER    12,    182O. 

Thomas  had  taken  as  partner  in  his  boat  George  Ryan,  who  had 
acted  as  waiter  for  Thomas  when  he  was  married ;  and  all  things  now 
being  ready  for  the  trip,  the  two  boats  left  the  mouth  of  Rush  Run  the 
1 2th  day  of  October,  1820.  I  and  John  went  with  them  as  far  as 
Wheeling,  and  from  that  point  we  returned  home,  and  I  little  thought 
that  it  was  the  last  time  that  I  was  ever  to  see  my  brother  William. 

The  boats  proceeded  on  their  way  down  the  river,  joined  by  three 
others  from  Warren ;  but  from  letters  received  from  Thomas  I  learned 
that  they  were  much  retarded  in  their  downward  course,  owing  to  the 
low  stage  of  water  in  the  Ohio.  But  a  sudden  rise  of  the  Great 
Kanawha  River  raised  the  Ohio  a:lso,  and  this  soon  brought  the  boats 
to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio.  However,  by  the  time  they  reached  the  Falls, 
the  increase  in  the  water  had,  in  a  great  measure,  left  them,  so  that  they 
had  to  unload  and  pay  for  hauling  the  flour  round  the  Falls.  But  Wil- 
liam's boat  got  injured  in  passing  over  the  rocks  of  the  Falls,  so  that  it 
had  to  be  raised  for  repairs.  This  accomplished,  and  the  re-loading 
completed,  they  put  off  down  stream,  and  they  now  had  deep  water  suf- 
ficient to  carry  them  into  the  Mississippi  with  ease. 

But  a  new  disaster  was  to  overtake  them ;  for  when  they  had  passed 
down  below  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  as 
the  water  was  deep  and  the  evening  pleasant,  they  concluded  to  run  the 
five  boats  all  night. 

However,  this  design  could  not  be  carried  out,  owing  to  the  wind 
rising  and  blowing  at  a  fearful  rate,  and  it  was  therefore  thought  best  to 
land.  For  this  purpose  Joseph  Chambers,  William's  best  hand,  was 
selected  to  take  a  skiff  and  go  and  seek  a  deep,  safe  landing. 

This  was  now  the  night  of  November  7th,  1820.  The  boats  were 
taken  to  the  shore  safe  to  a  place  where  the  water  was  ten  feet  deep,  and 
there  each  boat  was  made  fast  to  the  shore  by  a  cable ;  but  the  wind 
caused  the  boats  to  surge  about  so  much  that  William  ordered  Cham- 
bers to  go  ashore  and  make  their  boat  fast  by  the  stern. 


178  THE  SHERRARD  FAaMILY.  [1820. 


SKCTION     IX. 

1820-1824. 

FAMILY   AFFLICTIONS. 

CHAMBERS  went  on  shore,  but  complained  that  he  could  not  see 
to  drive  in  a  stake  for  want  of  a  h'ght.  William  then  lighted  the 
lantern,  and  held  it  out  for  Chambers;  but,  that  moment,  the 
wind  would  puff  it  out,  and  this  was  done  the  third  time,  when  William 
passed  between  the  steering  oar  of  the  boat  and  the  hatch-hole,  and  at 
once  stepped  over  the  end  of  the  boat,  and  sank  in  ten  feet  of  water ;  it 
was  supposed  that  he  might  have  risen,  but  under  the  boat.  For,  be  it 
here  recorded  that  William  could  not  swim. 

LEARNING   TO  SWIM. 

After  we  settled  on  Rush  Run  we  would  often  in  summer-time  when 
the  water  was  warm,  go  to  the  Ohio  river  and  wash  and  splash  about, 
but  it  was  some  time  before  any  one  of  us  four  boys  could  swim.  I  learned 
first,  and  on  this  wise  I  learned  to  swim  : — In  passing  along  the  mill 
race  I  noticed  that  a  frog  would  leap  off  the  bank  into  the  clear  water 
and  swim  away  out  of  sight,  and  then  another  and  another  would  leap  in, 
until  perhaps  a  dozen  would  thus  swim  away.  I  noticed  that  each  and 
every  frog  had  precisely  the  same  stroke  with  their  little  hands  and  fore- 
arms, and  the  same  kick  with  their  hind  legs  and  feet ;  and  I  saw  at  a 
glance  that  the  strokes  thus  made  by  the  frog  were  the  same  motions  in 
every  respect  that  I  ought  to  make,  and  that  every  man  and  boy  ought 
to  make  who  wished  to  swim. 

On  the  next  Saturday  afternoon  we  all  went  as  usual  to  the  river,  and 
I  was  so  full  of  the  frog-plan  of  swimming  that  I  waded  into  the  water 
about  neck  deep,  and  then  dived  about  half  way  from  the  surface  to  the 
bottom,  and  shot  off  in  imitation  of  the  frogs,  keeping  my  breath  as  long 
as  I  could  ;  then  standing  up  awhile  and  down  at  it  again,  and  thus 
after  a  few  trials  I  found   I  could  pitch  myself  on  the  top  of  the  water, 


1820.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  179 

and  swim  away  down  stream  with  ease.  The  next  Saturday  John  seeing 
me  at  it  so  successfully  learned  to  swim,  and  the  third  Saturday  Thomas 
could  swim,  but  poor  William  never  learned ;  and  for  want  of  knowing 
how  to  swim  he  lost  his  life  by  drowning.  He  often  said  during  the 
trials  we  all  made  to  learn  to  swim,  that  this  was  almost  the  only  thing 
he  ever  failed  to  learn,  for  he  could  do  almost  everything  else  but  that, 
for  he  was  a  man  of  great  natural  ability,  and  was  able  to  do  almost  every- 
thing he  would  undertake. 

After  William  had  stepped  off  the  end  of  the  boat  and  had  fallen  into 
the  water,  one  of  the  hands  on  the  boat  heard  the  fall  and  raised  the  out- 
cry, which  brought  all  the  hands  hurrying  from  all  the  other  boats.  It 
was  dismally  dirk,  and  all  was  silent  except  the  wind  and  the  waves 
lashing  against  the  shore,  while  William,  poor  William  !  who  was  as  full 
of  life  and  as  active  as  any  now  on  board  only  a  moment  or  two  before, 
now  lay  dead  at  the  bottom  of  the  river. 

In  the  confusion  it  was  some  time  before  they  were  able  to  recover 
the  body,  and  when  they  did  they  applied  every  known  means  for  his 
restoration,  but  these  all  failed  to  restore  William  to  life. 

The  next  day  William  was  laid  in  the  silent  grave,  and  buried  on  the 
bank  of  the  Ohio  river  in  the  state  of  Indiana  150  miles  below  the  falls 
of  the  Ohio,  "  and  not  a  stone  tells  where  he  lies." 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  family  that  we  would  send  a  head-stone 
and  foot-stone  with  Thomas  on  his  next  trip  down  the  river  to  mark 
William's  grave,  but  Thomas  never  made  another  trading  trip  down  the 
river. 

LETTER   ANNOUNCING   DEATH   OF   WILLIAM. 

The  first  intelligence  we  received  of  this  sad  calamity  was  a  letter 
written  by  Thomas  and  directed  to  me,  dated : — 

Rome,  Perry  Cou.nty,  Indiana,  November  13,  1820. 
Dear  Mother,   Wife,  Sisters  and  Brothers  : 

I  now  take  up  my  pen  to  announce  to  you  the  heart-breaking,  soul-rending,  and 
sorrowful  news  that  poor  William  is  no  more  :  Oh  !  it  will  be  woful  news  to  you  all, 
but  you  must  hear  it.  He  departed  this  life  on  the  7th  of  November  by  accidentally 
falling  overboard  ;  in  thinking,  no  doubt,  he  was  going  down  his  hatchway,  when  in 
the  dark,  he  stepped  over  the  stern  of  his  boat,  and  was  immediately  drowned.  Alas  ! 
my  grief  no  tongue  can  tell ;  in  him  1  have  lost  a  brother  and  a  father,  and  a  friend. 


180  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1821. 

He  is  dead  !  We  found  him  in  about  one  hour,  and  we  used  every  exertion  to  restore 
life  by  rolling  him  on  a  barrel,  rubbing  his  hands  with  salt,  and  in  drawing  blood  from 
him.  But  alas  !  alas  !  the  death  warrant  was  served,  and  my  hopes  and  exertions 
were  in  vain.  He  is  gone  ;  gone  from  earth,  and  we  shall  see  him  no  more  on  this 
side  of  time.  On  the  8th  1  got  a  cofifin  made  by  workmen  who  were  on  Tarr's  boat, 
who  had  their  tools  along  with  them,  and  at  two  o'clock  we  laid  him  in  his  silent  tomb, 
after  putting  on  him  a  clean  shirt  and  linen  pantaloons.  I  paid  %\.2.i,  for  a  fine  sheet 
to  wind  him  in.  Although  in  the  greatest  distress,  I  attended  to  have  him  as  decently 
buried  as  the  nature  of  the  case  would  admit  of.  I  had  his  last  remains  interred  on 
the  Indiana  shore  in  a  graveyard,  But  oh!  how  shall  I  express  my  grief,  when  I 
had  to  follow  one  so  near  and  dear  to  me  to  the  grave,  and  not  a  relative  to  mourn 
over  the  grave  but  me.  Oh  my  God  !  my  God !  my  heart  is  ready  to  burst ;  I  am 
alone  !  I  was  accompanied  by  the  crews  of  the  five  boats  which  started  from  Wheel- 
ing together  with  us.  Mr.  L6ng  and  George  Ryan  were  all  I  had  for  comforters,  and 
they  took  me  in  their  arms  in  the  deepest  distress  and  sympathetic  feeling  for  me. 
Oh  !    may  he  never  be  forgotten  ;  he  was  a  brother,  and  one  of  the  best. 

"  His  countenance  in  death  was  lovely  and  pleasant ;  his  features  were  natural  as 
life,  and  seemed  to  bespeak  peace.  I  would  advise  you  to  tell  my  mother  and  let 
her  know  the  worst  at  once,  as  I  do  not  believe  it  will  go  as  hard  with  her  as  to  keep 
her  in  suspense  for  some  time. 

"  I  write  this  to  you  all,  and  desire  John  to  go  to  brother  David's  and  inform  them 
personally.  I  cannot  write  to  my  dear  wife  at  this  time  ;  therefore,  1  wish  you  to  go 
after  her,  on  your  receiving  this,  and  bring  her  home  to  stay  as  long  as  she  thinks 
necessary  ;  and  inform  her  that  my  love  is  still  the  same,  and  will  be  while  hfe  shall 
last.     Remember  me  to  all  inquiring  friends. 

"  Your  loving  brother,  son  and  husband,  Thomas  Sherrard. 

"  To  Robert  A.  Sherrard." 

We  had  letters  from  Thomas  frequently  during  this  trip  down  the 
river,  and  he  was  gone  longer  from  home  than  on  any  previous  trading 
trip.  This  was  partly  on  account  of  the  dull  times  and  the  very  slow 
sale  of  flour  and  partly  because  he  found  it  necessary  to  make  up  losses 
on  the  part  of  his  cargo  that  did  not  sell  readily,  to  purchase  other 
articles  along  the  river  as  he  had  opportunity,  and  thus  he  continued  in 
the  trading  business  all  along  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans.  From 
there  he  returned  to  Port  Gibson,  where  he  was  seized  with  bilious 
fever,  which  the  doctor  checked  in  such  a  way  that  he  was  thrown  into 
a  long  spell  of  fever  and  ague. 

It  was  on  the  26th  day  of  August,  1821,  that  he  finally  arrived  safe 
home  again,  after  an  absence  of  more  than  ten  months. 

John   did   not   go   to    Fayette   County  to   tell  brother    David  the  sad 


1821.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  181 

news,  but  I  wrote  to  him  about  it,  and  enclosed  a  copy  of  Thomas' 
letter.  David  wrote  to  me  the  following  February,  and  the  following 
is  a  copy  of  his  letter : 

"Fayette  County,  Pa.,  Feb.  5,  1821. 
"  My  Dear  Brother  : 

"  I  have  been  silent  for  some  time  since  I  received  your  melancholy  letter  of  the 
7th  of  December  last,  which  letter  I  received  about  the  3oth.  On  casting  my  eyes  on 
the  introduction  and  then  on  the  copy  of  Thomas  Sherrard's  letter,  stating  that  '  poor 
William  is  no  more,'  I  dropped  the  letter,  for  I  could  read  no  more.  You  may  judge 
my  feelings  by  your  own ;  my  breast  seemed  to  be  filled  with  an  unsupportable 
weight;  my  mind  was  very  much  agitated,  my  heart  throbbed  and  my  bosom  heaved  ; 
the  scene  had  changed,  for  the  flower  of  the  family  had  been  nipped  by  death  at 
noon.  Such  was  the  lot  of  one  of  the  best  of  brothers  ;  he  had  numbered  35  years 
and  6  months  to  a  day.  My  first  exclamation  was :  '  I  knew  it  by  my  dream,'  from 
which  my  wife  Betsy  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  draw  off  my  thoughts,  although  my 
thoughts  had  settled  it  on  my  mind  for  days  afterwards,  and  so  sure  was  I  of  the 
notice,  that  I  determined  to  set  down  the  day  of  the  month.  John  Momson  and  his 
daughter  Nancy  came  to  see  us  on  the  3d,  and  John  left  on  the  6th  and  went  to  Tay- 
lor's and  stayed  all  night.  I  went  that  far  with  him,  and  received  your  letter  contain- 
ing a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Thomas  at  the  Falls,  which  letter  I  read  to  him.  And  it 
was  on  the  night  of  the  7th  that  I  had  the  dream  of  which  Baptist  Irvine  informed 
you,  and  which  was  the  cause  of  my  not  writing  to  you  sooner,  until  1  would  receive 
another  letter  from  you. 

"  I  received  your  last  letter  on  Tuesday  last,  which  in  some  manner  relieved  my 
mind  as  to  the  particulars  relative  to  the  fatal  moment  of  the  death  of  our  best  of 
brothers,  which  may  often  recur  to  our  memories,  but  cannot  recall  him  to  being  until 
the  archangel  shall  awake  our  slumbering.  But  here  my  thoughts  expand  to  embrace 
futurity,  and,  oh!  where  shall  we  there  meet,  or  how  as  a  family?  In  Christ  shall 
we  there  indeed  meet  a  father,  a  mother,  and  as  brothers  ?     Thou  God  only  knowest ! 

"  To  my  mother,  my  dear,  my  venerable  and  disconsolate  mother; — Many  have 
been  your  cares,  your  troubles,  anxieties  and  disquietudes  through  life,  while  watching 
over  the  thoughtless  days  of  our  childhood,  and  that  unremitting  labor  and  industry, 
with  which  you  provided  for  those  whom  God  had  graciously  given  you.  And  how 
often  has  your  mind  been  supported  by  the  fond  hope  of  seeing  them  virtuous,  pros- 
perous and  happy.  When  it  pleased  the  all-wise  disposer  of  all  events  to  render 
helpless  your  help-meet,  then  began  your  additional  care  for  some  years,  until  it 
gradually  decreased  by  the  steady  habits,  and  wise  and  prudent  management  of  him 
who  was  a  second  head  to  the  family,  and  by  which  means  you  were  relieved  from 
that  over  anxiety  and  care,  which,  with  other  causes,  so  much  impaired  your  health 
and  constitution. 

"  Yours  in  love.         Farewell  my  mother. 

"  And  now  my  dear  brothers,  John  and  Robert :  What  shall  1  say  to  you  on  the 
subject?    You  know  the  solemn  caution  :  '  Be   ye  also  ready.'     It  is  a  good  thing  to 


182  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1821. 

think — to  be  always  thinking.  The  most  of  the  wrongs  that  we  do  are  for  the  want 
of  thinking  beforehand,  yet  thinking  and  knowing  will  not  do  without  the  practice. 
Be  cautious  not  to  let  in  a  flood  of  wild  imaginary  ideas  into  your  mind  respecting  the 
doctrine  or  plan  of  salvation,  or  the  Providence  of  God  ;  for  if  we  follow  our  own  na- 
tural reasoning  in  such  cases,  we  are  sure  to  go  wrong,  and  they  have  a  hardening 
tendency  on  the  heart  and  mind. 

"  One  thing  respecting  my  poor  brother  William  is,  that  from  the  distance  and  time 
we  have  been  apart,  1  know  not  what  were  his  views  and  sentiments  respecting  re- 
ligion, nor  what  effect  it  had  on  his  own  mind.  This  thought  has  often  crossed  my 
mind.  But  one  thing  I  know  was  formerly  the  case,  his  life  and  conversation  were 
irreproachable  before  men,  and  his  mind  was  well  improved  and  stored  with  useful 
knowledge.  But  it  is  vain  to  trace  the  field  of  thought ;  he  is  called  away  ;  by  what  ? 
not  by  the  will  of  man — not  by  chance  ;  no,  it  was  nothing  short  of  the  will  of  God. 
He  who  first  gave  him  life  and  being  has  disposed  of  him  as  it  seemeth  him  best. 
The  Lord  grant  us  grace  to  acquiesce  in  saying,  '  Thy  will  be  done.' 

"  Affliction  generally  makes  us  better  or  worse.  The  Lord  grant  that  the  present 
dispensation  may  be  sanctified  for  our  good. 

"Yours  in  the  tenderness  of  love, 

"  David  A.  C.  Sherrard. 
"  To  R.  A.  Sherrard." 

A    REMARKABLE    DREAM. 

The  dream  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  letter  by  my  brother  David  he 
had  written  to  me  about  some  time  before,  and  it  was  to  this  effect : 
He  stated  that  on  the  night  of  November  7th,  the  same  dark  night  that 
William  was  drowned  150  miles  below  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  he  and  his 
wife  Betsy  had  retired  to  bed  as  usual,  and  had  fallen  asleep.  During 
his  sleep  he  had  the  following  dream  :  He  thought  he  saw  his  brother 
Thomas  come  in  on  his  homeward  journey  from  New  Orleans,  and  in 
his  dream  he  thought  Thomas  looked  very  dusty,  shabby,  tired,  way- 
worn and  haggard,  and  not  seeing  William  in  company  with  him,  he 
asked  Thomas  where  William  was,  and  Thomas  replied :  "  Poor  William 
is  no  more."  These  words,  as  he  dreamed  he  heard  them  from  Thomas' 
lips,  so  affected  him  that  he  began  to  cry  and  make  such  an  ado  in  his 
sleep  that  his  wife  was  awakened,  and  she  wakened  him  and  inquired 
what  was  the  matter,  and  he  then  told  her  his  remarkable  dream. 

A   VISIT  TO   FAYETTE   COUNTY. 

During  the  summer  of  1 821  I  had  a  light,  one-horse  dearborn  wagon 
made,  and  the  first  of  August  I   geared   up  in  it  the  old   dun  mare,  and 


1821.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  183 

placed  in  the  wagon  my  wife  and  three  children,  and  off  we  started  on  a 
visit  to  our  friends  in  Fayette  County,  Pa.  We  found  that  we  had  to 
drive  five  or  six  miles  up  on  the  Chestnut  Ridge  to  visit  Thomas  An- 
drews' family,  as  he  and  his  brother,  William  Andrews,  had  contracted 
to  build  a  mile  of  turnpike  of  the  old  sort,  not  macadamized,  but  made 
of  freestone. 

They  had  contracted  to  build  their  mile  for  $2200,  but  they  made  but 
little  profit  at  that.  The  turnpike  that  they  worked  on  started  at  Somer- 
set on  the  mountain,  and  came  on  down,  passing  through  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Robstown  (now  West  Newton),  thence  through  Williamsport  (now  Mon- 
ongahela  City),  and  thence  on  to  Washington,  where  it  intersected  the 
National  Turnpike ;  and  it  was  intended  to  be  a  connecting  link  between 
that  and  the  Northern  Pike. 

In  the  afternoon  of  September  23,  1821,  our  fourth  child  and  second 
daughter  was  born,  and  we  named  her  Elizabeth,  and  my  wife  Mary  and 
our  little  daughter  both  enjoyed  good  health  from  the  first  and  on 
throughout  the  following  winter  and  summer  of  the  year  1822.  This 
was  not  so  in  regard  to  my  own  health,  for  before  the  spring  grinding 
was  over  I  became  very  weak,  and  had  for  some  time  to  quit  heavy 
work;  and  from  exposure  I  took  a  bad  cold  which  stuck  by  me  for  three 
months,  until  I  applied  to  old  Doctor  Leslie,  and  he  said  I  nmst  take 
two  doses  of  calomel  and  jalap.  This  did  not  seem  to  do  me  any  good, 
but  I  got  better  during  the  summer,  as  I  had  sent  for  John  Scott  to 
come  and  work  for  me  in  the  mill. 

I  and  Abel  Ashby,  together  with  a  farmer  on  the  hill  named  Joseph 
Edwards  built  a  new  school-house  on  the  corner  of  Edwards'  land,  near 
the  roadside  leading  from  the  Ohio  river,  to  Smithfield,  and  the  fall  of 
1823  it  was  ready  for  use.  We  employed  a  Miss  Hannah  Graham,  who 
understood  teaching  a  common  school  uncommonly  well  for  the  time,  as 
the  education  and  qualifications  of  the  school  teacher  of  that  period  were 
on  a  low  scale.  Miss  Graham  told  me  she  had  been  assistant  teacher  in 
a  large  school  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  sixteen  years.  This  was  the 
school  to  which  my  oldest  children  went,  and  where  they  all  five  learned 
to  read.  However,  only  Mary  Ann  and  Joseph  went  to  this  Miss 
Graham,  for  David  and  Elizabeth  were  too  young.  Mary  Ann  was  then 
five  years  and  six  months  old,  and  Joseph  four  years  old. 


184  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1822. 

ENTERING    CONGRESS   LAND. 

In  June,  1822,  my  brothers,  John  and  Thomas  went  on  a  trip  to  the 
north-western  part  of  Ohio  to  look  for  desirable  land  to  enter,  and  they 
finally  selected  one  quarter  section  each  for  themselves,  and  one  quarter 
for  me,  but  the  quarter  they  chose  for  me  proved  to  be  the  best  of  the 
three.  It  was  rich  and  strong  soil,  and  well  timbered,  and  what  made  it 
more  valuable,  it  had  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  quarter  a  large, 
never-failing  spring,  near  which  my  son  David  built,  and  settled,  and 
from  1844  is  living  there  up  to  the  present  time,  April  16,  1859.  This 
land  selected  was  near  the  town  of  Lower  Sandusky,  now  Fremont,  and 
west  of  the  river.  John  and  Thomas  then  made  their  way  to  Piqua, 
where  the  Land  Office  was  opened  at  that  time,  and  they  entered  the 
land  they  had  selected. 

CAPTAIN  JAMES   RILEY. 

From  Piqua  they  continued  their  course  westward  to  Indiana  state  to 
look  for  more  land.  Their  first  stopping  place  of  note  was  about  forty 
miles  east  of  Fort  Wayne,  at  the  home  of  Captain  James  Riley,  the 
American  sea-captain,  who  was  wrecked  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa, 
in  1 81 5,  and  after  losing  his  vessel  and  cargo,  he  and  his  men  were  taken 
captive  by  the  Arabs.  His  "  Narrative  "  of  that  captivity  enjoyed  a  great 
popularity. 

John  and  Thomas  staid  with  him  over  night,  and  although  he  had 
been  but  a  year  or  two  settled  in  these  wilds  on  the  heads  of  the  Mau- 
mee  River,  yet  he  would  take  no  pay  from  them.  John  then  turned  to 
Riley's  little  boy  Wiltshire,  and  offered  to  give  him  a  silver  dollar,  but 
the  captain  would  not  allow  it,  saying  that  he  himself  had  suffered  priva- 
tion and  hunger  enough  while  in  captivity  among  the  Arabs  to  teach 
him  to  be  kind  and  benevolent  to  his  fellow  beings,  who  at  any  time 
might  fall  in  his  way.  Captain  Riley  had  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land 
on  St.  Mary's  branch  of  the  Maumee  River,  and  had  built  a  mill  and 
laid  out  a  town ;  and  he  had  named  the  town,  township,  mills,  and  his 
little  boy,  at  that  time  four  years  old,  Wiltshire,  in  honor  of  Wiltshire,  the 
English  consul  who  had  redeemed  him  from  Arab  slavery. 

The  captain  was  a  most  entertaining  companion. 


1822.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  185 

CAPTAIN    RILEY'S   STORY. 

John  and  Thomas  went  on  to  Fort  Wayne,  where  they  concluded  to 
remain  for  two  or  three  days  to  rest,  and  wait  for  other  company  on  their 
further  westward  trip.  While  here,  Captain  Riley  and  his  wife  came  to 
Fort  Wayne  for  a  few  days  and  stopped  at  the  same  hotel  with  my  broth- 
ers, and  they  had  further  opportunity  of  acquaintance  with  him,  and 
they  found  him  the  most  lively,  conversable  companion  they  had  ever 
come  across,  full  of  interesting  anecdote. 

If  any  one  in  the  company  would  tell  a  tale,  Captain  Riley  could 
always  match  it.  Thomas  said  that  during  the  second  day  of  their  rest, 
while  in  the  captain's  company,  Thomas  mentioned  that  during  one  of 
his  trading  trips  to  the  South  he  stopped  at  Natchez  and  sold  out  his 
load ;  and  while  there  selling  out,  a  man  came  on  from  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama to  purchase  flour  and  other  supplies  for  his  plantation.  He  came 
in  a  large  canoe  or  pirogue,  and  bought  forty-eight  barrels  of  flour  and 
two  barrels  of  whiskey,  and  started  off  home  with  his  cargo  to  go  up  the 
Alabama  River.  "  That,"  said  Captain  Riley,  "  was  a  small  concern  to  a 
canoe  I  saw  at  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas.  I  once  sailed  from  Boston  to 
New  Orleans  with  a  cargo  of  Yankee  rum,  which  I  traded  off  for  Ken- 
tucky tobacco. 

"  I  then  ran  my  vessel  to  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas,  where  I  exchanged 
my  cargo  of  tobacco  with  a  rich  planter  of  that  place  for  sugar  and 
molasses,  to  be  delivered  at  my  vessel  on  a  certain  day,  and  when  the 
time  arrived  I  looked  and  waited  all  day  impatiently,  being  an.xious  to 
get  my  lading  and  leave  for  Boston.  But  to  my  great  disappointment 
the  sun  went  down  and  night  set  in  without  any  sign  of  my  sugar  and 
molasses  coming.  It  was  a  bright  moonlight  night,  and  I  paced  the 
deck  anxiously,  when  presently  I  heard  singing  and  the  splashing  of 
oars,  and  as  the  sounds  came  nearer  I  called  out  to  know  who  was  there. 
The  answer  came  that  they  wanted  to  find  Massa  Riley's  vessel.  I 
told  them  this  was  the  ship  they  were  looking  for,  and  they  said  they 
had  on  board  of  their  canoe  sugar  and  molasses  for  Massa  Riley.  The 
big  canoe  was  soon  alongside  of  my  ship  and  made  fast,  and  to  my  as- 
tonishment there  was  hoisted  out  of  that  large  pirogue,  400  hogsheads 
of  sugar  and  700  barrels  of  molasses  ;  enough  to  load  my  vessel,  so  that 


186  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1823. 

in  the  morning  we  set  sail  for' Boston."  In  addition  to  the  above  con- 
cerning Captain  Riley,  I  heard  my  neighbor  Mr.  James  Erwin  say  that 
in  December,  1826,  he  was  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  attendance  upon  the 
session  of  the  Legislature,  and  Captain  Riley  was  a  member  of  that 
body.  Erwin  said  that  they  both  boarded  at  the  same  hotel,  and  that 
Riley  would  not  suffer  the  boarders  to  eat  without  thanks  being  offered 
for  God's  mercies  in  giving  them  plenty  of  food,  remarking  to  all  present 
that  if  they  had  passed  through  the  scenes  of  starvation  that  he  had  ex- 
perienced on  the  desert  among  the  Arabs,  they  would  be  more  thankful 
for  the  blessings  they  enjoyed  ;  and  Captain  Riley  would  himself  ask  the 
blessing  at  the  table,  surrounded,  by  the  great  ones,  legislators  and 
others,  without  fear. 

JOHN   AND  THOMAS  TRAVEL   FARTHER   WEST. 

On  the  third  day  John  and  Thomas,  in  company  with  three  or  four 
others,  left  Fort  Wayne  for  Indianapolis,  the  distance  being  seventy 
miles,  and  but  one  house  half  way  where  they  could  stay  all  night. 
They  passed  on  through  Indianapolis  as  far  as  Terre  Haute,  but  found 
that  whole  region  too  sickly  to  think  of  buying  land.  John  took  the 
bilious  fever  out  there,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  able  came  directly  home  in  a 
very  weak  condition.  Thomas  parted  from  John  at  Urbana,  O.,  and  made 
his  way  north  again  to  Sandusky  County,  where  he  entered  three  eighty 
acre  lots  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  back  of  Croghansville,  up  Green 
Creek,  where  there  was  a  good  site  for  a  mill  seat.  In  the  same  vicinity 
he  also  selected  a  quarter  section  for  me,  and  one  for  John,  and  went  to 
Piqua  and  entered  them,  and  then  came  on  home,  and  I  paid  him  $10 
for  what  he  had  done  for  me,  although  I  had  superintended  business 
operations  at  home  while  they  were  gone. 

THOMAS   MOVES   TO    SANDUSKY. 

My  brother  Thomas  made  preparations  to  move  out  to  his  land  on 
Green  Creek,  Sandusky  County,  and  he  left  us  May  3,  1823,  and  if  ever 
a  man  made  a  foolish  calculation  wide  of  the  mark  Thomas  did  it.  The 
morning  he  left  he  borrowed  of  me  ^200,  but  aside  from  that  he  owed 
me  on  settlement  for  money  borrowed  of   me  at  sundry  times  ^$103; 


1823.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  "  187 

and  further,  he  went  away  in  debt  to  brother  William's  estate  $86,  and 
an  equal  amount  to  brother  John. 

In  the  first  place  he  got  Cunningham  Kithcart,  who  had  come  down 
from  Fayette  county  with  me  the  February  of  that  year,  and  had  set  up 
a  blacksmith  shop  at  our  mill,  to  make  him  a  complete  set  of  saw-mill 
irons  ;  he  bought  of  John  Dickey  six  Pennsylvania  axes  ;  he  employed 
three  young  men  to  go  with  him  and  work  for  him  six  months  each ; 
he  hired  Eli  Sidwell  to  haul  out  his  plunder  at  a  cost  of  $63  ;  and  all 
the  expenses  of  these  hands  into  the  bargain,  together  with  the  expense 
of  moving  i6g  miles,  and  the  erection  of  his  saw-mill, — all  this  to  be 
paid  for  out  of  $200.  When  he  got  out  there  he  left  his  wife  and  child 
at  a  tavern  in  Fremont  while  he  took  his  men  and  went  out  and  built  a 
new  hewed  log-house,  and  cleared  up  the  land  around  the  house.  This 
house  was  built  near  Ball's  Battle  Ground,  and  Thomas  was  soon  settled 
down  there. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  1823,  our  fifth  child  and  third  son  was  born,  and 
he  was  named  Robert,  after  his  father. 

For  the  first  four  weeks  Mary  got  along  as  well  as  she  had  usually 
done  in  such  cases.  Her  sister  Kezia  had  come  down  from  Fayette 
County  with  her  brother  Cunningham  some  weeks  before,  and  was  with 
us  on  a  visit,  and  Aunt  Nancy  Conn  staid  and  nursed  and  took  care 
of  Mary  for  three  weeks.  By  the  end  of  the  fourth  week  she  felt  so 
well  that  she  concluded  that  she  and  Kezia  could  do  the  washing. 
Mary  had  often  employed  an  old  woman,  poor  and  needy,  to  do  the 
family  washing,  but  poor  as  she  was,  she  did  the  washing  poorly,  so 
much  so  that  Mary  had  to  go  over  them,  and  Mary  concluded  she  might 
as  well  do  it  herself.  On  this  occasion  the  two  sisters  got  through  the 
washing  all  right,  and  no  serious  consequences  would  likely  have  fol- 
lowed, but  they  took  the  clothes  over  to  the  run,  ten  or  twelve  rods 
from  the  house,  to  rinse  them  in  the  clear  running  water  of  the  Rush 
Run.  Here  there  was  a  broad  flat  rock  raised  a  little  out  of  the  water 
in  the  middle  of  the  run,  and  on  this  rock  they  worked,  while  near  by 
were  the  falls  of  the  run  about  two  feet  high,  where  the  water  flowed 
over  clear  and  cold. 

This  was  on  Tuesday,  and  the  next  day,  Wednesday,  July  9th,  after 
Mary  had  prepared  dinner  she  immediately  lay  down  sick  and  exhausted. 


188  ■  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1823. 

and  in  a  short  time  a  fever  came  on.  To  make  matters  worse,  just  at 
this  time  EHzabeth,  who  was  not  yet  two  years  old,  was  taken  with  a 
fever,  and  the  care  of  her  was  very  wearing  on  her  mother. 

mary's  last  illness. 

Dr.  Leslie  was  in  attendance,  but  by  Friday  morning  Mary  was  much 
worse,  and  took  a  fainting  spell,  and  when  she  came  out  of  it,  she  called 
us  all  to  her  bedside,  and  as  if  it  had  been  revealed  to  her,  she  told  us 
that  she  would  not  get  well.  At  this  time  she  asked  me  what  I  would  do, 
whether  I  would  marry  again,  and  I  told  her  I  could  not  marry  again  of 
a  sudden.  She  then  said  that  if  I  did  not  marry  again  I  would  have  to 
break  up  housekeeping,  and  would  have  to  put  the  children  out. 

If  I  should  have  to  break  up  housekeeping,  she  required  me  to  put 
Mary  Ann  and  Joseph  to  my  mother ;  David  to  his  Uncle  David ; 
Elizabeth  to  Mary's  mother ;  and  Robert,  the  baby,  four  weeks  and  two 
days  old,  to  be  put  to  his  Aunt  Sally  Andrews,  as  she  had  a  baby  three 
months  old.  From  this  time  on  she  was  not  able  to  sleep,  and  by 
Saturday  night  I  had  taken  the  fever  from  her,  and  by  Sabbath,  July 
13th,  I  was  seiiously  ill. 

For  three  weeks  Mary  and  I  lay  sick.  Dr.  Leslie  using  all  his  skill  to 
bring  us  back  to  health,  and  as  Mary  could  neither  eat  nor  sleep  she 
was  brought  very  low  by  the  time  the  fever  broke,  which  was  not  till 
Tuesday,  29th,  or  Wednesday,  30th.  I  was  not  brought  so  low  as 
Mary,  for  I  could  sleep,  but  I  had  no  taste  for  food.  I  cannot  remem- 
ber many  occurrences  during  that  sickness,  but  one  thing  I  shall 
remember  with  pleasure  while  memory  lasts,  and  that  is  the  kindness 
and  attention  paid  to  us  during  that  time,  first  by  our  own  relatives,  and 
secondly  by  the  neighbors  generally.  And  first,  my  mother  was  there 
constantly  day  and  night,  and  she  did  what  she  could  by  waiting  on 
Mary,  but  in  this  she  was  much  hindered  by  the  constant  care  required 
from  the  little  child  Elizabeth. 

And  my  brother  John  did  as  well  as  he  could  in  attending  to  the 
mill.  Mary's  brother  Joseph  was  at  that  time  down  with  us  on  a  visit, 
and  having  nothing  to  do,  he  attended  me  and  his  sick  sister  with  a  free 
good  will  and  to  purpose,  while  Cunningham  Kithcart  did  what  he 
could,  in  and  out  of  the  house,  when  he  was  not  busy  at  the  shop. 


1823.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  189 

THE   KINDNESS   OF   NEIGHBORS. 

The  neighbors,  both  far  and  near,  were  very  attentive,  but  I  must  not 
forget  the  kindness  of  Mrs.  Hanson  Thomas ;  as  soon  as  she  heard  of 
Mary's  sickness  she  came  down  from  the  widow  Meholin's  farm,  where 
they  then  lived,  to  visit  her,  and  finding  that  my  mother  had  to  feed  the 
child,  then  but  four  weeks  old,  and  that  mother  had  at  the  time  a  heavy 
charge  in  attending  Elizabeth,  Mrs.  Thomas  freely  offered  to  take 
Robert,  the  babe,  home  with  her,  and  nurse  and  keep  him  until  other 
provision  should  be  made.  Her  request  was  freely  granted,  as  she  had 
so  kindly  asked,  and  she  kept  the  child  six  weeks,  until  Sarah  Andrews 
came  down  in  August  and  took  son  Robert  home  with  her,  and  kept 
him  till  the  1st  of  November,  1S23. 

The  fever  left  me  the  night  of  Monday,  July  28th,  but  by  Tuesday  I 
was  in  a  worse  condition,  for  I  was  seized  with  bilious  colic,  but  I  was 
finally  relieved  of  this  by  antispasmodic  drops  which  Dr.  Leslie  gave 
me,  and  I  slept  well  the  latter  part  of  Tuesday  night  and  part  of 
Wednesday.  This  was  not  the  case  with  Mary,  for  she  had  not  slept 
for  the  last  three  weeks,  but  the  fever  was  now  all  gone  from  her,  and 
by  Wednesday  night,  at  eleven  o'clock,  she  fell  into  a  sound  sleep. 
About  that  time  I  was  wakened  out  of  a  sleep  by  the  light  steps  of  the 
widow  Cooper  and  widow  Meholin,  who  were  watching  Mary  that  night, 
passing  through  my  room,  and  I  heard  one  of  them  say  to  the  other: 
"  She  is  now  in  a  sound  sleep,  and  as  she  has  lost  so  much  sleep,  we 
will  let  her  have  a  good  sleep." 

Oh,  what  ignorance  in  these  two  middle-aged  widows  and  myself,  not  to 
know  that  it  was  wrong  to  let  a  weak  patient  sleep  too  much  ! 

DEATH    OF    MARY   KITHCART  SHERRARD. 

Mary  slept  soundly  from  1 1  o'clock  at  night  until  1 1  o'clock  the  next 
day,  and  the  family  and  all  who  called  to  inquire,  were  well  satisfied  that 
she  was  taking  so  good  and  so  sound  a  sleep,  all,  all  ignorant  of  the 
danger  of  her  sleeping  too  much  in  such  a  very  weak  state. 

It  was  II  o'clock  A.  M.  of  Thursday,  July  31,  1823,  when  Mary's 
brother  Joseph  came  into  the  room  in  which  I  and  Mary  were  lying, 
and  as  I  had  noticed  for  some  minutes  that  she  seemed  to  breathe  harder 


190  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1823. 

than  usual,  I  said  to  him  that  I  feared  Mary  was  sleeping  her  last. 
Joseph  Kithcart  stepped  over  to  her  bed,  and  gently  turned  her  over  on 
her  side,  when  she  breathed  two  or  three  times,  and  it  was  her  last 
breath.  Thus  lived  and  died  one  of  the  best  of  wives ;  she  died  at  the 
age  of  twentj'-five  years  and  seven  months,  wanting  four  days.  She  was 
kind  and  affectionate  to  her  husband  and  children,  courteous  to  friends 
and  acquaintances,  and  hospitable  to  strangers ;  she  was  too  good 
for  me,  and  the  heavenly  Father  called  her  home. 

The  parting  farewell  we  all  had  with  her  on  Sabbath,  July  13th, 
proved  to  be  the  last,  although  she  lived  for  more  than  two  weeks  after- 
wards. I  was  disposed  to  blame  Dr.  Leslie  for  neglecting  to  give  us 
caution  to  rouse  Mary  out  of  sleep  every  fifteen  minutes,  but  it  was  not 
so  ordered  that  he  should  use  any  more  means  than  he  did.  He  was 
allowed  to  proceed  for  Mary's  benefit  just  so  far  and  no  farther;  God 
for  his  own  glory  had  foreordained  that  another  state  of  things  should  be 
brought  about  that  no  one  living  at  the  time  of  her  death  could  foresee, 
but  God  alone  who  ordered  it. 

Her  funeral,  although  I  was  not  yet  able  to  be  out  of  bed,  was  a  large 
one,  and  her  remains  were  attended  to  the  burying  ground  of  old  Centre 
Church  by  rather  an  uncommon  concourse  of  people,  which  went  to 
show  the  great  respect  and  esteem  the  community  had  for  her,  although 
she  had  resided  but  a  few  years  among  them.  She  had  been  a  true 
friend  and  a  kind  neighbor;  she  visited  the  sick  and  afflicted,  and  kindly 
relieved  their  wants. 

(About  1876  her  remains  were  removed  from  Old  Centre  to  the  Sher- 
rard  family  vault  at  Steubenville.     T.  J.  S.) 

MY    RECOVERY. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  days  I  was  so  much  better  as  to  be  able  to  sit 
up  for  half  an  hour  in  a  large  rocking  chair,  and  then  walk  back  to  bed 
without  help.  In  the  course  of  three  weeks  I  was  able  to  be  out,  and 
first  rode  up  to  Smithfield  on  some  business. 

About  the  12th  of  August  I  had  sent  Joseph  Kithcart  with  the  dun 
mare  in  the  dearborn  wagon  up  to  Fayette  County,  and  he  brought  down 
with  him  his  sister  Sarah  Andrews.  They  came  past  my  brother 
David's,  and  his  wife  Betsy  took  the  buggy  and  a  quiet  horse  and  came 


1823.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  191 

down  along  to  see  my  family  and  mother  and  John.  It  was  Aunt  Betsy's 
first  and  last  visit  to  Ohio. 

After  spending  a  week  with  us,  Sarah  Andrews  and  aunt  Betsy 
Sherrard  made  preparations  to  go  home,  and  I  concluded  to  go  along. 
Joseph  Kithcart  drove  aunt  Betsy's  carriage,  and  I  drove  my  own  mare 
in  the  dearborn  wagon,  and  aunt  Sally  carried  Robert,  the  mother- 
less babe,  in  her  lap  and  nursed  him.  We  went  past  Wellsburg,  and  on 
out  to  Patterson's  Mills,  and  to  the  old  Patterson  homestead,  three  miles 
above  the  Mills,  and  there  in  the  old  stone  mansion  house  lived  Sally 
Andrews,  and  her  mother-in-law,  old  Nancy  Andrews,  and  her  daughter 
Mary  Andrews,  who  now  in  1859  lives  in  Steubenville. 

With  old  Mrs.  Andrews  and  her  daughter  Mary  we  staid  till 
Wednesday  morning,  August  27th,  when  we  left  and  proceeded  on  to 
Brownsville,  where  we  staid  with  cousin  John  Johnston,  the  tailor. 
The  next  day,  before  we  left,  I  got  him  to  go  with  me  to  George  Hogg's 
store  and  choose  me  a  good  article  of  cloth  for  a  full  suit  of  mourning. 

He  chose  me  a  suit  of  cassimere  at  $2.50  a  yard,  and  I  left  it  with 
him  to  make;  he  had  it  complete  on  my  return,  and  I  paid  him  $7  for 
making  the  full  suit  of  black  for  a  mourning  suit,  and  it  was  a  good  one. 
We  left  friend  Johnston's  on  Thursday  morning,  and  arrived  at  my 
brother  David's  about  noon  ;  and  now  Aunt  Betsy  was  at  home.  We 
had  brought  with  us  my  second  son,  David,  who  was  now  three  years, 
seven  months  and  twenty  days  old,  and  I  left  him  with  his  uncle  David 
until  the  first  of  the  next  November.  On  Friday  morning  after  break- 
fast we  proceeded  on  to  the  old  Kithcart  homestead,  where  my  mother- 
in-law  was  now  living  since  the  death  of  her  second  husband,  John 
Galloway,  and  here  I  was  glad  to  stay  and  rest  myself.  The  ne.xt  week, 
in  company  with  mother-in-law,  I  went  down  to  the  "  Neck,"  where 
lived  a  number  of  my  first  wife's  relations  of  first-rate  respectability,  such 
as  John  Kithcart  and  wife ;  old  Uncle  Joseph  Cunningham  and  Uncle 
James  Torrence  ;  Uncle  Joseph  Hutcheson  and  his  wife  Aunt  Anna.  At 
John  Kithcart's  we  found  Mary's  grandmother,  Anna  Cunningham,  who 
was  yet  living,  hearty,  hale,  and  sensible,  considering  her  age,  for  she 
was  then  eighty-four. 

After  two  days  we  returned  home,  and  I  then  visited  William  An- 
drews  and   family,  but   I   missed   Thomas   Andrews   and   family,  and 


192  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1823. 

Thomas  Kitlicart  and  family,  for  they  had  both  moved  out  past  us,  and 
had  stopped  with  us  two  nights  in  0>:tober,  1822,  on  their  way  to  their 
new  home  in  Ohio.  They  were  settled  in  Richland,  now  Ashland 
County,  but  two  of  these  honest,  honorable  brothers-in-law  are  long 
since  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth. 

Thomas  Andrews  died  of  pleurisy  September  18,  1838;  and  William 
Andrews  died  of  apoplexy  October  4,  1840. 

Thomas  Kithcart  is  yet  living  this  26th  of  April,  1859.  With  these 
three  brothers-in-law  I  have  spent  many  pleasant  hours. 

MOTHER-IN-LAW  TO   KEEP   HOUSE    FOR   ME. 

I  had  left  home  for  the  express  purpose  of  persuading  mother-in-law 
to  come  down  to  Rush  Run  and  keep  house  for  me,  until  I  could  recon- 
cile myself  to  marry  a  second  time.  And  that  did  not  appear  likely  as  I 
then  felt  in  mind ;  my  affections  had  gotten  such  a  strong  hold  on 
Mary  from  before  we  were  married  up  to  her  death,  that  it  was  hard 
to  call  them  thence,  for  I  loved  and  reverenced  the  memory  of  her, 
although  her  body  was  mouldering  to  dust  in  the  grave. 

I  proposed  to  mother-in-law  that  as  she  had  three  single  girls,  two  of 
them  now  at  home,  and  Kezia  at  my  house  already,  they  could  do  the 
work  if  she  would  consent  to  go,  and  she  might  oversee  them,  and 
might  spin  and  manufacture  for  herself,  and  I  would  board  her  for  her 
oversight ;  I  also  proposed  to  move  her  down  free  of  cost.  She  agreed 
to  go  for  two  reasons :  some  of  the  heirs  were  grumbling  because  she 
occupied  the  place,  and  they  got  no  rent ;  one  other  reason  was  that  her 
family  was  now  so  small  that  there  was  not  work  enough  of  that  varied 
character  that  would  give  her  girls  a  chance  to  learn,  but  she  thought 
that  in  such  a  family  as  mine  they  might  find  those  varied  sorts  of  work 
needed  for  their  learning.  These  matters  being  talked  over  to  the  satis- 
faction of  both  of  us,  there  was  one  other  thing  she  would  like  to  have 
understood:  "  Suppose  you  should  marry  again  in  one  year  or  eighteen 
months,  I  would  have  to  leave  and  go  elsewhere  to  live  with  some  of  my 
children,  and  the  expense  would  overcome  the  profit."  I  told  her  that 
if  I  married  a  second  time  in  less  than  three  years,  I  would  move  her 
anywhere  east,  west,  north  or  south,  provided  the  distance  was  not 
greater  than  from  where  she  now  lived  to  Rush  Run ;  this  quieted  her 


1824.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  193 

on  that  subject,  and  she  said  she  would  be  ready  to  come  down  by  the 
first  of  November.  I  then  returned  home  about  the  middle  of  September, 
where  Kezia  and  Mary  Ann  had  been  keeping  house  under  the  direction 
of  my  old  mother,  and  this  continued  until  I  got  mother-in-law  moved 
down. 

It  was  towards  the  first  of  November  that  I  returned  to  the  Kithcart 
homestead,  taking  with  me  a  man  and  two  dearborn  wagons,  and  after 
mother-in-law's  vendue,  we  loaded  her  effects,  which  made  the  two 
wagons  full,  and  she  and  her  daughter  Martha  came  with  us,  each  on 
horseback.  Betsy  Kithcart  had  just  been  married  that  October  to  John 
Sloanaker,  and  he  made  a  very  kind,  good  husband  to  her  up  to  the 
time  of  her  death,  which  happened  three  or  four  years  ago,  and  this  is 
now  April,  1859. 

In  due  time,  after  a  journey  of  five  days,  we  arrived  home,  where  we 
were  joyfully  received  by  Kezia  and  Cunningham,  as  they  had  not  seen 
their  mother  and  Martha  since  March  last,  and  my  children  were  over- 
joyed to  have  David  and  the  little  baby  Robert  restored  to  them 

Our  family  then  consisted  of  myself  and  five  children,  and  my  miller, 
John  Scott,  mother-in-law  and  her  two  girls,  Martha  and  Kezia,  and  her 
son  Cunningham,  which  made  eleven  of  a  standing  family  till  the  May 
of  1825,  when  Joseph  Kithcart  took  Martha  to  him  to  keep  house  for 
him  at  Mount  Pleasant. 

DEATH   OF    THOMAS   G.   SHERRARD. 

Some  time  in  April,  1824,  a  letter  from  Col.  David  Chambers  of  San- 
dusky informed  us  of  an  occurrence  that  once  more  brought  sorrow  to 
the  heart  of  every  living  brother,  and  the  aged  and  heart-stricken 
mother.  It  was  the  information  that  Thomas  Sherrard  was  supposed  to 
be  lost  in  the  Sandusky  river,  and  that  his  wife  and  little  boy,  William, 
were  for  the  time  living  in  his  family. 

The  following  is  the  letter  from  Col.  Chambers : 

"  Ballville,  Sandusky,  28th  March,  1824. 

"  Dear  Sir  : — I  write  a  melancholy  line  to  you  to  inform  you  that  on  the  26th  instant 

your  brother  Thomas  G.  Sherrard  was  drowned  crossing  the  Sandusky  river,  and  has 

not  been  found  as  yet,  and  I  fear  that  he  won't  be  for  some  time  yet.     His  wife,  Mrs. 

Sherrard,  and  her  Uttle  boy,  Wilham,  is  at  my  house.     She  is  almost  in  despair ;  she 

13 


194  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1824. 

wants  one  of  you  to  come  out  on  receipt  of  this  letter,  and  she  thinks  it  best  not  to 
delay,  for  your  presence  is  much  needed,  as  ue  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  the 
property. 

"  We  have  not  consulted  her  concerning  her  wish,  but  think  she  intends  to  go  home 
with  you  when  you  come  out. 

"  The  fact  is  I  cannot  give  you  any  account  what  course  to  pursue  until  she  gets 
better  reconciled  in  mind.  I  have  taken  the  stock  home  to  my  place.  We  will  do 
something  with  the  household  goods  in  a  few  days ;  that  is,  we  will  move  them  to  a 
place  of  safety — perhaps  to  my  house.  I  can't  give  you  any  more  information  at 
present,  but  remain, 

"  Yours, 

"  David  Chambers. 
"  To  Robert  or  John  Sherrard." 

SAD  JOURNEY  TO   SANDUSKY. 

Thus  another  new  affliction  had  arisen  to  the  family,  and  although  he 
was  a  loving  and  a  lovely  brother  to  me,  yet  in  truth  I  can  say  that  the 
stroke  did  not  fall  as  hard  on  me  as  the  news  of  brother  William's 
death,  because  of  my  overwhelming  affliction  in  the  death  of  my  wife. 

But  now  the  question  arose  who  should  go  to  Sandusky  and  sell  the 
personal  property  and  bring  home  Thomas'  widow  and  little  son.  John 
excused  himself  as  to  health  and  other  circumstances,  and  it  was  decided 
that  I  should  go.  I  hired  an  Indian  pony  for  the  trip  from  a  traveling 
tailor  by  the  name  of  Bartley,  for  which  I  paid  him  the  sum  of  ^3,  and 
some  time  the  i8th  of  April  I  started.  The  fourth  day  out  I  stopped  at 
Thomas  Andrews',  where  I  rested  three  days,  and  then  spent  a  day  with 
Thomas  Kithcart,  and  passed  on  through  Mansfield,  and  on  to  Tiffin, 
the  new  county-seat  of  Seneca  county.  From  Mansfield  to  Tiffin  I  had 
the  company  of  three  lawyers  on  their  way  to  attend  Court  at  Tiffin, 
where  we  arrived  a  little  before  sundown,  and  put  up  at  the  only  tavern 
in  the  place.  There  were  only  three  shingled  houses  in  the  town,  if 
town  it  could  be  called,  and  the  next  day,  April  29,  1824,  the  President 
Judge  opened  the  first  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ever  held  in  Tiffin.  That 
day  I  crossed  the  Sandusky  river  a  little  above  the  town,  on  a  large 
canoe,  which  was  the  only  ferry-boat  there  was,  and  my  pony  was  made 
to  swim  alongside.  I  then  passed  on  down  the  west  side  of  the  river, 
and  in  due  time  arrived  at  the  house  of  Colonel  Chambers,  which  was 
situated  on  the  river  bank,  about  two  miles  above  Lower  Sandusky,  now 


1824.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  195 

Fremont.  Here  with  the  family  of  Col.  Chambers  I  found  Rebecca,  the 
wife  of  my  deceased  brother  Thomas,  and  her  little  boy,  named  William 
Johnston,  now  going  on  two  years  old. 

FREMONT    IN    1S24. 

The  next  day  I  and  Colonel  Chambers  went  down  to  the  town  of 
Lower  Sandusky,  which  was  my  first  view  of  it,  and  it  was  a  poor- 
looking  town.  It  had  two  middling  stores  in  it  at  the  time, — one  kept 
by  a  man  named  Umstead,  and  the  other  by  a  man  named  Sears.  These 
stores  carried  on  a  constant  trade  with  the  Seneca  Indians  both  on  Sun- 
day and  every  day  in  the  week.  As  we  went  around  the  town,  I  was 
shown  the  place  where  Fort  Stephenson  once  stood,  at  which  place  and 
around  it  my  brother  John  and  his  comrades  had  spent  three  months  in 
the  campaign  from  the  middle  of  February  to  the  middle  of  May,  1813. 
But  I  could  now  see  little  signs  of  a  fort,  for  the  pickets  had  been  cut 
down,  and  nothing  remained  but  the  stumps  of  them  to  show  where  the 
fort  had  been. 

At  this  time  there  was  no  word  of  any  Presbyterian  or  Baptist  minis- 
ter having  been  sent  to  that  region  to  preach  and  organize  churches ; 
but  the  Methodists  were  already  on  the  ground.  The  following  Sab- 
bath, May  2nd,  I  went  with  Colonel  Chambers  and  his  family  down  to 
town,  and  attended  Methodist  services  in  the  square  log  school-house 
situated  on  the  hill  north  of  the  fort. 

On  Monday  we  attended  Court  in  Lower  Sandusky,  and  I  and  Col. 
Chambers  were  appointed  administrators  of  the  estate  of  my  deceased 
brother.  I  had  induced  him  to  join  with  me  by  offering  him  all  the 
fees  allowed  in  such  cases,  because  he  was  near  by  to  attend  to  the 
affairs. 

MYSTERIOUS   DEATH   OF   THOMAS  SHERRARD. 

From  Colonel  David  Chambers  I  learned  the  particulars  of  the  mys- 
terious disappearance  of  my  brother  Thomas,  and  of  the  subsequent 
finding  of  his  body. 

When  Thomas  had  moved  out  here,  John  had  put  into  his  care  the 
two  quarter  sections  of  land  which  he  had  entered.  The  one  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  had  a  good  sugar-camp  on   it,  which  the  Seneca 


196  THE  SHERRARD  EAMILV.  [1824. 

Indians  had  formerly  used ;  and  as  John  feared  the  Indians  might 
damage  his  camp,  he  gave  Thomas  orders  to  rent  it  to  some  white 
man. 

This  Thomas  did,  renting  it  to  a  man  by  the  name  of  William  Chard, 
who  lived  on  that  side  of  the  river  near  to  the  sugar-camp,  and  the  rent 
was  to  be  the  making  of  all  the  necessary  troughs  and  forty  pounds  of 
sugar. 

It  seems  that  Chard  and  his  sons  had  expressed  to  the  neighbors 
their  doubt  that  the  sugar-camp  was  not  wholly  on  John's  land,  and 
they  had  said  as  much  as  that  they  would  not  pay  the  rent.  This  talk 
gave  Thomas  some  uneasiness,  and  he  had  been  prevented  by  high 
water  from  crossing  the  river  to  the  east  side  to  see  about  the  rent, 
until  the  fatal  26th  day  of  March.  That  day  he  came  past  the  house  of 
Colonel  Chambers,  and  found  him  at  work  in  the  barn,  and  asked  him 
if  he  thought  it  safe  to  attempt  to  cross  the  river,  and  Chambers  said  he 
thought  it  was.  Thomas  then  set  off  on  his  horse  up  the  river  to  cross 
over  on  his  errand,  and  that  was  the  last  time  his  neighbors  saw  him 
alive  and  well. 

When  the  evening  came  on,  the  Chambers  family  looked  for  him,  as 
he  generally  stopped  as  he  passed ;  but  the  night  came  on,  and  no  word 
of  him. 

The  ne.xt  morning  early  Thomas'  wife  came  over  to  Chambers'  in  great 
trouble,  and  said  her  husband  had  not  come  home.  Col.  Chambers  en- 
deavored to  allay  her  fears,  but  by  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  all  hope 
was  lost,  when  James  Chard,  son  of  old  William,  was  seen  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  riding  Thomas'  horse.  He  stopped  and  called  over  to 
Col.  Chambers  and  asked  him  if  he  knew  the  horse,  and  Chambers  replied 
that  it  was  Sherrard's  horse. 

James  Chard  told  him  that  Mr.  Sherrard  had  been  at  his  father's  house 
the  evening  before,  and  had  got  forty-two  pounds  of  sugar  and  had 
started  for  home  before  sundown,  but  that  the  horse  had  come  to  his 
father's  about  twelve  o'clock  that  day,  March  27th,  with  neither  saddle 
nor  'oridle  on.  Young  Chard  then  let  the  horse  go,  and  it  came  across 
the  river  home. 


1824.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  197 


THE   NEIGHBORHOOD   ALARMED. 

Colonel  Chambers  then  immediately  alarmed  the  neighborhood,  but 
as  it  was  now  late  in  the  day,  little  could  be  done  more  than  to  look 
along  the  river  banks. 

The  next  day,  March  28th,  they  turned  out  in  force,  with  water  crafts 
and  grapples  to  rake  the  river,  but  all  to  no  purpose ;  search  was  dili- 
gently made  the  following  day,  and  some  crossed  the  river  and  searched 
the  woods  about  Chard's  place,  but  all  with  no  results,  and  it  was  re- 
solved to  wait  until  the  river  would  fall. 

On  April  loth  his  hat  was  found  about  three  miles  down  the  river 
from  the  ford  where  he  had  crossed  in  going  to  Chard's,  but  the  hat  bore 
no  evidence  of  having  been  in  the  water  any  length  of  time;  and  on  the 
I  ith  of  April  his  saddle  was  found  below  Moor's  mill-dam,  and  although 
it  was  soaked  with  water,  it  was  evident  that  it  had  not  been  long  in  the 
water. 

However,  on  April  21st  the  body  of  a  man  was  seen  floating  down  the 
river,  by  young  Jesse  Pryor,  and  he  discovered  it  about  half  a  mile  below 
the  ford,  where  it  was  supposed  Thomas  Sherrard  had  crossed,  but  as  it 
was  late  in  the  evening  and  no  boat  at  hand,  it  was  impossible  to  reach 
it;  but  the  next  morning  the  neighbors  collected  and  search  was  made, 
when  it  was  found  that  the  body  had  floated  down  the  river  almost  to 
the  town  of  Lower  Sandusky.  When  it  was  recovered  it  was  found  to 
the  horror  of  all,  that  it  was  the  body  of  their  friend  and  neighbor 
Thomas  Sherrard.  It  was  completely  stripped  naked,  except  that  it  had 
on  overalls,  shoes  and  socks,  but  the  body  was  divested  of  a  heavy  great 
coat,  an  under  straight  coat,  a  vest  well  buttoned,  and  a  flannel  shirt  and 
linen  shirt,  each  buttoned  at  the  wrist  and  collar,  all  of  which  Thomas 
had  on  when  he  left  home. 

His  left  eye  was  bruised  out,  the  bridge  of  the  nose  broken,  and  the 
right  jaw  bone  cracked,  as  if  done  by  one  hard  blow  of  a  club.  The 
body  was  not  in  the  least  decomposed,  and  had  evidently  not  been  long 
in  the  water,  iior  had  it  apparently  been  long  since  death  had  taken  place. 


198  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1824. 

THE   coroner's   inquest. 

The  coroner  was  called,  who  summoned  a  jury,  and  then  subpcenasd 
a  number  of  the  neighbors,  together  with  several  of  the  Chard  family. 
This  was  done  as  some  mistrust  and  suspicions  were  afloat,  that  some  of 
old  Chard's  family  had  committed  murder,  or  was  the  cause  of  his  death, 
but  there  was  no  proof  to  convict  them. 

Old  Chard  and  those  of  his  family  that  gave  in  their  evidence  before 
the  coroner's  jury,  all  followed  their  father.  The  tale  that  he  told  was 
that  Mr.  Sherrard  came  to  his  house  on  the  26th  of  March,  and  that  he 
used  him  well,  paid  him  forty-two  pounds  of  sugar  as  rent  for  the  camp, 
and  also  gave  him  a  cake  of  sugar  of  five  pounds  weight  as  a  present  to 
his  wife.  And  Chard  further  stated  that  Mr.  Sherrard  had  put  all 
the  sugar  into  a  wallet,  placing  about  equal  parts  in  each  end  of  the 
wallet,  and  then  to  keep  the  sugar  dry  he  put  the  middle  of  the  wallet 
over  his  neck,  back  of  his  head,  the  ends  hanging  down,  the  one  end  on 
the  right  breast  and  the  other  on  the  left  breast ;  he  then  took  hold  of  the 
end  on  the  right  and  threw  it  over  his  left  shoulder,  and  that  on  the  left 
he  threw  over  the  right,  and  thus  fi.^ed  out  for  crossing  the  river,  he  left 
us  in  good  friendship.  Chard  further  stated  that  he  supposed  his  horse 
had  thrown  him  off  into  the  river,  and  trod  on  his  nose,  put  out  his  eye, 
and  cracked  off  the  right  jaw  bone,  and  had  also  trod  on  his  mouth 
which  drove  out  the  front  teeth  ;  and  as  to  that  black  and  blue  place  on 
his  throat,  old  Chard  supposed  it  was  caused  by  the  wallet  which  con- 
tained the  sugar. 

And  now  old  Chard's  young  people,  not  being  separated  from  their 
father  while  he  gave  his  testimony,  as  they  should  have  been,  all  followed 
their  father  in  the  track  he  laid  down.  The  jury  having  no  other  ground 
to  go  upon,  gave  in  their  verdict  that  he  came  to  death  by  accident,  but 
none  of  the  jury  were  satisfied  for  want  of  further  evidence.  He  was 
buried  decently,  as  Col.  Chambers  informed  me,  in  the  graveyard  at 
Lower  Sandusky,  on  the  evening  of  April  22,  1824. 

THEORY  OF  THE  DE.'^TH  OF  THOM.\S  SHERRARD. 

Col.  Chambers  said  to  me :  "  The  truth  is,  none  of  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Sherrard  believed  the  statement  of  the  Chard   Family,  but  all  of  us  are 


1824.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  199 

of  the  opinion  that  he  came  to  his  end  by  foul  play,  and  I  myself,  am 
full  of  that  belief"  The  idea  of  the  horse  setting  his  foot  on  his  face  to 
do  the  injuries  found  on  him  was  out  of  the  question,  and  in  itself  incon- 
sistent, for  the  body  thrown  from  the  horse  in  the  high  swift  water  would 
not  have  remained  in  position  a  single  moment  so  as  to  give  the  horse  a 
chance  to  set  his  foot  on  the  face. 

The  general  theory  of  his  death  was  this:  When  he  crossed  the  river, 
March  26th,  and  came  to  Chard's  house,  they  refused  to  pay  the  sugar 
rent,  when  an  altercation  arose,  and  the  two  sons  of  Chard  knocked 
Thomas  off  his  horse  with  a  club.  There  were  evidently  two  blows,  as 
though  struck  from  each  side  of  the  horse  ;  with  one  the  teeth  and  jaw 
bone  were  broken,  and  with  the  other  the  eye  was  knocked  out  and  the 
bridge  of  the  nose  broken. 

In  this  state  he  must  have  bled  nearly  to  death,  when  the  Chards 
fearing  detection  took  him  to  their  house  and  secreted  him,  and  kept  him 
stowed  away  in  a  weak  and  languishing  condition  from  March  26th  to 
April  20th.  Then  fearing  if  he  was  returned  home  in  that  weak  state 
they  would  be  detected  and  punished,  they  finished  their  foul  work  by 
choking  him  to  death,  since  the  black  and  blue  place  on  his  throat  was 
about  the  length  of  the  grasp  of  a  hand.  Then  on  the  morning  of  April 
2 1st  they  carried  the  body  stripped  as  it  was  and  placed  it  in  the  water 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  it  floated  down  to  the  place  where  it 
was  first  discovered  by  young  Pryor  that  day.  The  under  garments  were 
probably  burnt,  but  some  time  in  June,  the  great  coat  and  body  coat 
were  found  by  some  fishermen  in  the  river  under  a  broad,  flat,  limestone 
flag,  where  they  had  no  doubt  been  placed  by  these  murderers. 

CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  SHERRARD. 

From  Col.  Chambers  I  learned  that  after  Thomas  had  become  his  near 
neighbor,  in  June,  1823,  he  was  known  to  the  community  as  an  indus- 
trious man,  steady  and  assiduous  to  business,  placing  around  him  all  the 
conveniences  that  a  man  could  do.  He  lived  in  love  and  friendship  with 
all  his  neighbors  and  acquaintances,  and  was  affable,  courteous,  friendly 
and  kind  with  everybody.  Col.  Chambers  further  remarked  that  he  was 
a  pleasant  and  conversable  man,  fond  of  information,  liberal  and  friendly, 


200  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1824. 

and  in  fact  he  had  all  those  rare  qualities  combined,  sufficient  and  neces- 
sary to  constitute  a  good  citizen,  a  good  husband  and  a  tender  father. 

RETURNING    HOME    FROM   SANDUSKY. 

After  spending  a  month  with  Col.  Chambers  in  settling  up  my  brother 
Thomas'  affairs,  and  having  a  vendue,  I  was  ready  to  start  home  with 
Rebecca  and  her  boy.  At  the  appraisement  she  took  the  best  of  the 
two  horses  and  the  dearborn  wagon,  and  these  I  drove  home.  But  be- 
fore leaving  I  paid  Col.  Chambers  for  boarding  the  widow  and  boy  two 
months,  and  for  my  own  boarding  one  month ;  and  on  the  morning  of 
May  29th,  we  bade  good-bye  to  the  colonel  and  his  family  who  had 
been  so  kind  to  me  during  my  stay  of  four  weeks  with  them,  and  to  the 
widow,  and  who  had  taken  such  an  interest  in  the  case  of  my  deceased 
brother. 

Part  of  the  way  the  roads  were  very  bad,  and  the  load  in  the  dearborn 
was  heavy,  so  that  we  could  not  make  good  progress,  and  added  to  this 
the  horse  at  one  point  became  fagged  out,  so  much  so  that  I  left  him  on 
the  roadside  to  die.  But  the  horse  had  no  notion  of  dying,  and  managed 
to  pull  along,  and  by  feeding  him  with  green  sassafras  leaves  he  re- 
covered and  was  able  to  eat,  and  we  finally  got  home  at  an  early  hour  in 
the  evening  of  the  4th  of  June.  I  drove  over  to  my  mother's  house  and 
delivered  the  lone  and  disconsolate  widow  and  her  boy  William  over  to 
the  care  of  my  mother.  In  October,  1824,  six  months  after  the  death  of 
the  father,  a  second  son  was  born,  and  he  was  called  Thomas  Sherrard 
after  his  father.  Nearly  forty  years  have  gone  by  since,  and  by  this  time, 
in  1864,  he  is  the  father  of  six  interesting  boys  and  girls. 


1824.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  201 

S  ECTION     X. 

1824-1826. 

VARIOUS   JOURNEYS. 

IN  the  month  of  November,  1824,  I  took  mother-in-law  and  her 
daughter  Kezia  in  my  dearborn  one-horse  light  wagon  on  a  visit  to 
see  for  the  last  time  her  aged  mother,  Anna  Cunningham.  It  was 
also  necessary  to  settle  up  some  business  that  she  had  left  unsettled 
when  she  came  away  from  Fayette  last  year.  I  went  with  mother-in- 
law  to  Shallenberger's,  where  old  Mr.  Stevenson  boarded,  and  she  paid 
him  $10  which  she  had  borrowed  to  pay  tax  on  the  three-quarters  of 
Sugar  Creek  land  belonging  to  the  Kithcart  heirs.  This  old  Mr.  Steven- 
son was  a  Scotch-Irishman,  and  was  a  retired  schoolmaster  living  on  the 
interest  of  his  money,  the  principal  amounting  to  $5,000  or  $6,000,  never 
married,  nor  had  he  any  blood  relations  in  America.  After  mother-in- 
law  had  become  a  widow  the  first  time,  he  made  application  to  her  to 
marry  him,  but  she  refused  his  offer,  and  afterwards  married  old  John 
Galloway  in  preference.  After  the  death  of  John  Galloway,  for  he  lived 
only  eighteen  months  after  they  were  married,  and  after  she  had  returned 
from  Mercer  County,  old  Mr.  Stevenson  renewed  his  suit  in  the  offer  of 
marriage  a  second  time,  but  she  again  refused  him. 

On  reflecting  about  this  offer  of  marriage  I  said  to  mother-in-law  that 
I  wished  she  had  taken  old  Mr.  Stevenson  at  his  offer,  but  she  replied 
that  she  would  marry  no  man  for  his  money  if  she  did  not  love  him, 
and  so  the  matter  ended. 

THE   QUESTION   OF  SECOND   MARRIAGES. 

While  I  was  on  this  visit  to  Fayette  County  the  fall  of  1824,  I  met  an 
old  school-mate,  James  PauU,  Jr.,  and  after  some  preliminary  conversa- 
tion, he  asked  me  how  long  I  had  been  a  widower,  and  how  many 
children  I  had. 


202  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1824. 

I  replied  that  I  had  been  fifteen  months  a  widower,  and  had  the  care 
of  five  children.  He  asked  ine  if  I  had  no  notion  of  marrying  again, 
and  I  said  that  I  had  not. 

He  replied  that  I  was  wrong,  and  that  the  sooner  I  got  married  again 
the  better  for  my  children  while  they  were  young,  for  in  that  case  they 
will  not  know  the  difference  between  their  own  mother  and  the  second 
mother. 

He  further  mentioned  that  he  had  been  married  again,  and  brought  in 
a  second  mother  more  than  a  year  before,  and  he  knew  by  experience 
that  young  children  knew  no  difference.  I  told  him  I  would  consider 
about  the  matter,  and  so  I  did  for  two  years  afterwards. 

ELECTED   RUUNG   ELDER   OF  CENTRE   IN    1824. 

While  I  was  gone  up  to  Fayette  County  on  this  visit,  the  old  Centre 
congregation  held  an  election  for  two  elders,  and  the  choice  fell  on 
William  Matthews  and  myself,  and  in  a  short  time  we  were  ordained  to 
the  office  of  ruling  elder  by  the  Rev.  Jacob  Cozard,  who  was  then  pastor 
of  Centre  Church.     This  was  in  November,  1824. 

HOW   WE   STUDIED  ENGLISH   GRAMMAR. 

It  was  not  long  after  our  return  from  Fayette  County,  that  fall  of 
1824,  until  Joseph  Kithcart,  my  brother-in-law,  came  down,  and  I 
employed  him  to  assist  me  in  the  mill.  About  the  middle  of  December 
a  Mr.  Scott  came  and  proposed  to  teach  English  Grammar  on  a  new 
Yankee  plan  by  a  Mr.  Hull.  This  plan  proposed  to  give  the  apt  scholar 
a  pretty  good  knowledge  of  Etymology  and  Syntax,  leaving  out  the 
first  part  of  Grammar,  for  the  reason  that  the  author  "  presumed  that 
Orthography  was  taught  in  every  well  regulated  common  school  in  the 
land." 

The  course  of  this  teacher,  Mr.  Scott,  was  for  twenty-four  evenings 
by  lectures  and  a  thorough  course  of  parsing,  for  which  he  required 
each  subscriber  to  pay  him  $2. 

For  this  course  I  subscribed  two  scholars,  one  for  myself  and  one  for 
my  sister-in-law,  Martha  Kithcart ;  my  brother  John  one ;  Cunningham 
Kithcart  one ;  Joseph  Kithcart  one ;  old  Mr.  Carmichael  two ;  Wesley 
Smith  one ;  George  Tennant   one ;  and  if  there   were  others   who   sub- 


1825.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  203 

scribed  to  the  first  quarter  I  have  forgotten.  At  the  end  of  the  first 
quarter  I  and  Joseph  Kithcart  came  out  first  in  the  amount  learned  and 
in  our  aptness  to  distinguish  the  different  parts  of  speech  ;  and  what 
helped  us  to  get  on  a  Httle  faster  than  the  others  was  the  fact  that  we 
had  botli  previously  studied  the  nature  of  English  Grammar. 

Wesley  Smith  came  out  the  next  best,  and  George  Tennant  the  next, 
and  though  Cunningham  Kithcart  and  his  sister  Martha  made  consider- 
able progress,  and  so  did  old  Carmichael's  daughter  and  son  George, 
yet  these  four  were  somewhat  behind  the  rest  of  us.  And  as  to  my 
brother  John  he  came  out  behind  all  the  others ;  indeed  so  slight  a  hold 
had  it  on  his  mind,  that  in  one  month  afterwards  I  question  if  he  could 
remember  scarce  anything  about  it,  and  I  have  more  than  once  said  that 
he  never  undertook  anything  else  but  he  could  make  some  progress  at, 
but  English  Grammar  he  could  not  get  along  with. 

But  I  knew  the  reason,  and  I  told  him  the  reason  ;  during  that  winter 
he  was  courting  Sarah  Harrah  for  a  wife,  and  she  kept  him  hanging 
on,  so  that  they  were  not  married  till  the  8th  day  of  September,  1825, 
following. 

When  a  young  woman  has  so  far  thrown  out  her  enchantments  as  to 
entangle  and  entrap  a  young  man  into  the  intricate  meshes  of  her  love, 
so  as  to  make  him  feel  all  over  so,  and  he  has  become  her  admirer  in 
every  sense,  he  is  but  illy  calculated  to  learn  English  Grammar  or  any 
other  study,  except  the  one  he  is  bent  on. 

At  the  opening  of  the  spring  of  1825  Cunningham  and  Joseph  Kith- 
cart bought  a  tan-yard  in  Mount  Pleasant  from  old  Joseph  Gill  at  ;^500, 
and  some  time  in  April  Joseph  moved  to  Mount  Pleasant,  and  set  in 
to  improve  the  property,  and  took  his  sister  Martha  to  keep  house 
for  him. 

TRIP  THROUGH   SOUTHERN   OHIO. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  during  the  first  trip  of  my  brother  Thomas 
down  the  river  in  1818,  he  took  in  trade  for  flour  the  right  to  a  Military 
Land  Warrant  from  one  John  McLain.  It  had  been  granted  to  an 
ancestor  of  McLain  for  services  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  but  the 
warrant  had  never  been  lifted  from  the  War  Ofifice,  although  numbered 
and  dated  1786.  It  called  for  100  acres  of  Virginia  military  land.  The 
said  warrant  was,  however,  lifted  from  the  ofifice  in    July,  1824,  by  our 


204  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1825. 

Congressman,  John  C.  Wright,  acting  as  agent  for  Thomas.  When  he 
heard  of  the  death  of  Thomas  he  handed  the  warrant  over  to  me  as  the 
administrator  of  Thomas'  estate,  and  advised  me  to  go  to  ChilHcothe  to 
enter  the  land  which  it  called  for. 

Accordingly,  on  June  8,  1825,  I  started  for  ChilHcothe,  and  first 
stopped  at  the  widow  McCIure's  in  Guernsey  County,  and  visited  my  quar- 
ter section  of  land  to  see  what  order  it  was  in.  From  there  I  pa.ssed  on 
through  Zanesville  and  Somerset,  which  is  half  way  between  Zanesville 
and  Lancaster,  and  arrived  at  Lancaster,  eighteen  miles  from  Somerset, 
and  put  up  at  King's  tavern. 

The  next  day,  some  time  in  the  forenoon,  after  I  had  satisfied  myself 
and  my  curiosity  in  looking  at  the  town  of  Lancaster,  I  mounted  my 
horse,  and  a  little  before  noon  I  arrived  at  ChilHcothe  and  put  up  at 
Medary's  tavern.  Here  I  found  my  old  friend,  Printer  Wilson,  of  Steu- 
benville,  who  was  out  fulfilling  the  duties  of  his  office  under  appointment 
of  the  President  to  visit  and  examine  the  different  Land  Offices  in  the 
new  States. 

He  soon  asked  what  had  brought  me  to  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
when  I  explained  to  him  about  the  Land  Warrant  that  I  wished  to  lo- 
cate, he  said  that  he  was  acquainted  with  General  McArthur  who  lived 
about  a  mile  out  from  ChilHcothe,  and  that  he  would  know  all  about 
such  matters,  and  he  would  take  me  out  to  see  him  the  next  day.  That 
afternoon  and  evening  Printer  Wilson  and  I  spent  a  faithful  time  together 
in  discourse,  and  neither  of  us  was  at  any  loss  for  something  to  talk 
about. 

He  wished  me  very  much  to  go  with  him  on  his  round  in  visiting  the 
land  offices,  and  he  offered  to  pay  my  way  round  if  I  would  go  with  him 
for  company,  but  I  had  to  decline  his  kind  offer,  as  my  business  required 
me  at  home  in  the  shortest  time  I  could  get  there. 

The  next  morning,  which  was  June  16,  1825,  we  mounted  our  horses 
and  rode  out  to  General  McArthur's,  and  he  received  us  very  cordially, 
but  when  he  examined  my  Warrant  he  told  me  I  had  come  to  the  wrong 
place  to  locate  that  one,  for  it  called  for  land  in  Guernsey,  Coshoc- 
ton, Tuscarawas,  or  Holmes  County,  if  there  was  any  vacant  land  there, 
and  that  John  C.  Wright  was  mistaken  in  sending  me  here  to  ChilHcothe. 
Leaving  General  McArthur  we  rode  over  to  the  next  farm,  about  half  a 


1825.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  205 

mile,  and  called  in  to  see  Ex-Governor  Worthington,  to  whom  I  was  in- 
troduced as  a  friend  of  Mr.  Wilson's.  While  here  we  three  had  a  warm 
discussion  of  the  proposed  Ohio  Canal,  as  the  Legislature  this  spring, 
before  adjourning,  had  authorized  its  construction  by  a  loan  of  $400,000 
to  begin  with. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  opposed  to  this  measure,  while  Ex-Governor  Worth- 
ington and  I  were  strongly  in  favor  of  it.  From  there  we  returned  to 
our  hotel  for  dinner. 

The  next  morning  I  left  Chillicothe  and  traveled  through  the  Pick- 
away Plains,  and  arrived  at  Circleville  before  noon.  After  taking  a  view 
of  the  old  circular  Fort  made  of  dirt  ten  feet  high,  by  human  hands, 
many  centuries  ago,  I  forded  the  Scioto  river  and  traveled  ten  miles 
until  I  came  to  the  residence  of  Robert  Davis,  who  was  married  to 
Peggy  Irvine,  a  sister  of  my  brotlier  David's  first  wife.  I  found  the  Davis 
family  all  well,  and  they  appeared  glad  to  see  me,  as  I  had  not  seen 
them  since  the  fall  of  18 14.  After  spending  two  days  with  them  I  bade" 
farewell  to  Robert  Davis  and  his  wife  and  daughter  Sarah  Ann  and  son 
James,  and  I  have  never  seen  any  of  these  dear  ones  from  that  time  to 
this  ;  but  I  have  understood  that  Robert  Davis  and  his  wife  are  both 
dead  long  since.  Her  mother,  Rachel  (Gamble)  Irvine,  was  first  cousin 
to  my  mother. 

Fifty  years  have  fled  since  Mrs.  Peggy  Davis  and  the  two  above 
named  children  made  their  home  with  our  family  on  Rush  Run,  from 
April  to  November,  1814. 

From  there  I  came  on  Sabbath  morning  to  a  Camp  Meeting,  about 
eighteen  miles  from  Davis',  and  here  I  found  my  old  friend  James 
Clark,  and  went  home  with  him  and  his  family  about  eleven  miles  far- 
ther. Monday  I  returned  with  them  to  Camp  Meeting,  and  on  Tuesday 
I  left  them  and  came  on  to  Columbus  about  twenty  miles.  Here  I  visited 
the  Ohio  Penitentiary,  and  after  dinner  I  took  the  road  for  Newark. 

From  there  I  came  on  through  Zanesville,  and  stopped  only  for  din- 
ner, and  then  came  on  to  the  Widow  McClure's,  where  I  staid  all  night 
The  next  day  I  came  to  old  Billy  Boggs',  who  was  married  to  my  second 
cousin,  Katy  Ferguson.  Here  I  found  her  sister  Peggy,  who  was  yet 
single  at  the  age  of  forty,  and  fresh  and  young  looking  for  her  age.  Her 
sister  Kate  asked  me   why  I   did  not  marry  again,  and  I   said  I  had 


206  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1825. 

thought  little  of  such  a  change.  But  she  said  there  was  Eva  McClure, 
an  elderly  steady  girl  that  would  make  me  a  good  wife,  but  Peggy  spoke 
up  and  said  in  a  joking  way  that  she  need  not  be  recommending  Eva 
McClure  to  me,  for  she  was  just  setting  her  cap  for  me  herself.  But  at 
that  time  I  had  neither  the  inclination  nor  the  power  to  carry  out  the 
joke  seriously.  But  when  I  did  think  about  Peggy  some  seven  or  eight 
months  afterwards,  by  the  1st  of  March,  1826,  word  came  that  Peggy 
Ferguson  was  married  to  a  widower  named  George  McCormick,  and 
that  was  the  end  of  the  matter  so  far  as  I  was  concerned.  I  left  Billy 
Boggs'  and  came  on  home  by  way  of  Mount  Pleasant,  and  arrived  home 
the  evening  of  June  24th,  1825,  after  an  absence  of  better  than  two 
weeks.  The  Land  Warrant  was  not  yet  laid,  and  I  had  gone  a  long  and 
wild-goose  chase.  General  McArthur  had  advised  me  to  stop  in  Cam- 
bridge and  see  Colonel  Beattie  about  it,  which  I  did,  but  he  said  that 
while  my  Warrant  was  good,  and  he  would  give  me  40  dollars  for  it, 
yet  there  was  no  vacant  land  in  his  county  to  locate.  I  said  I  had  no 
authority  to  sell  it,  and  he  advised  me  to  go  to  Coshocton  and  call  on 
John  Johnson,  clerk  of  the  Court,  and  employ  him  to  lay  the  War- 
rant. 

Accordingly,  early  in  December  that  year,  I  started  to  go  to  Coshoc- 
ton for  that  purpose,  and  took  with  me  my  mother-in-law,  Elizabeth 
Galloway,  and  left  her  in  Richland  County  to  visit  her  son,  Thomas 
Kithcart,  and  her  daughter,  Anna  Andrews,  and  family.  I  went  on  to 
Coshocton,  and  found  Mr.  Johnson,  and  left  the  warrant  with  him  to 
locate,  for  which  I  paid  him  fifteen  dollars,  and  he  agreed  to  secure  the 
best  one  hundred  acres  of  land  that  was  then  vacant. 

Returning,  I  came  through  Richland  County,  and  brought  mother- 
in-law  home  with  me.  This  was  a  busy  year  with  me  at  home  and 
abroad,  for  I  had  now  made  three  trips  away  from  home.  The  second 
was  in  August,  when  I  took  mother-in-law  up  to  Mercer  County,  Pa.,  to 
attend  to  some  business  connected  with  the  settling  up  of  the  estate  of 
John  Galloway,  to  get  the  six  hundred  dollars  which  he  left  her  by  will, 
in  lieu  of  dower;  but  she  could  get  no  satisfaction  from  any  one  of  the 
three  executors,  as  they  said  there  was  no  money  on  hand.  Thus  she 
was  baffled  by  them  for  eight  or  ten  years.  At  length  she  got  her 
money,  but  not  till  suit  was  brought. 


1825.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  207 

MARRIAGE    OF    MY    BROTHER,    JOHX    SHERRARD. 

On  the  8th  day  of  September,  1825,  my  brother,  John  Sherrard,  was 
married  to  Sarah  Harrah,  daughter  of  James  Harrah,  of  Beech  Spring 
congregation,  five  miles  northwest  of  Smithfield.  He  was  within  two 
months  of  being  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and  she  was  twenty.  On  the 
next  day,  Friday,  he  brought  his  bride  home  to  his  mother,  who  was 
then  hving  at  Rush  Run  Mills,  and  that  evening,  after  dusk  a  short 
time,  a  party  of  six  or  eight  came  with  guns,  drum  and  fife  to  serenade 
him.  Although  John  himself  had  been  engaged  in  just  such  serenading 
the  June  before  at  the  time  of  David  Runyon's  wedding,  yet  he  looked 
upon  this  action  now  as  a  grand  insult  to  him. 

John  continued  to  live  in  the  house  across  the  run  from  the  mill 
where  the  family  all  lived  when  we  first  came  to  Rush  Run,  and  where 
John  and  mother  had  been  living  since  the  death  of  William.  Mother 
continued  to  live  with  John  until  the  fall  of  1830,  when  David,  my 
brother,  came  down  from  Fayette  County,  and  took  her  up  to  his  house 
on  a  visit ;  but  she  never  returned  from  that  visit,  continuing  to  live 
with  her  son  David  and  her  own  old  brother,  David  Cathcart,  until  her 
death,  October  27,  1833. 

In  due  time  my  brother  John  and  his  wife  Sarah  had  two  sons  born 
to  them, — William,  the  elder,  and  James,  the  younger.  After  our  undi- 
vided half  of  the  mill  property  was  sold  to  Joshua  Wood,  the  fall  of 
1829,  and  my  brother  John  had  time  to  look  around,  he  purchased  a 
mill  property  on  the  Piney  Fork  of  Short  Creek,  four  miles  west  of 
Smithfield,  where  he  removed  with  his  family,  and  they  were  now  in  the 
bounds  of  the  Beech  Spring  Congregation. 

His  son  William  was  married  January  5,  1852,  to  his  cousin,  Mar- 
garet Jane  Neal,  of  Union  County.  William  continued  to  live  at  home 
and  to  run  his  father's  mill  for  several  years,  and  finally  moved  out  to 
Iowa.  James,  the  younger  son,  died  when  a  young  man,  April  15,  185 1, 
and  was  never  married.  My  brother  John  continued  to  live  in  the  same 
place  until  his  death,  July  14,  i860.  His  wife  Sarah  survived  him  little 
more  than  a  year,  and  died  September  27,  1861.  My  brother  John  was 
not  the  man  that  could  control  his  temper ;  but  he  was  a  man  of  iron 
will,  and  would  seldom  take  advice  of  any  one. 


208  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1826. 

S  ECTION     XI. 

1826-1827. 

SECOND   COURTSHIP  AND   MARRIAGE. 

IN  the  early  part  of  January,  1826, 1  left  home,  and  went  up  to  Fayette 
County  on  business  connected  with  the  estate  of  my  father-in-law 
Joseph  Kithcart,  and  I  stopped  at  my  brother  David's  and  found 
them  all  as  well  as  usual.  But  my  aunt  Susannah  Cathcart  called  my 
attention  to  a  sore  spot  at  that  time  about  the  size  of  a  dollar  on  the 
outside  of  the  left  ankle.  She  asked  me  if  it  was  a  ring-worm,  and  I  told 
her  it  was  not ;  she  remarked  in  reply,  that,  be  it  what  it  may,  "  I  think 
it  is  sent  to  be  my  death."  And  so  it  proved  to  be  in  the  end,  for  in  a 
few  weeks  it  spread,  and  she  died  from  erysipelas  in  April,  1826,  aged 
seventy-eight  years.  Her  maiden  name  was  Susannah  Guthridge,  and 
she  was  married  in  Ireland  to  David  Cathcart,  September  3,  1 770. 

While  on  this  visit  in  January,  my  brother  David  said  to  me  that  I 
had  acted  so  well  while  a  widower,  that  if  he  could  he  would  help  me 
get  another  wife,  and  asked  me  how  it  would  do  to  go  and  court  and 
marry  Peggy  Ferguson.  I  replied  that  I  had  not  thought  seriously 
about  marrying  Peggy,  and  I  further  added  that  I  supposed  there  had 
been  not  less  than  fifty  widows  and  old  girls  recommended  to  me,  as  my 
friends  had  been  very  kind  to  me  in  that  respect,  but  I  said  that  there 
was  not  one  in  all  that  number  that  I  would  take  for  a  wife.  But  after- 
wards I  often  pondered  the  matter  over  in  my  mind  how  Peggy  Fergu- 
son would  do  for  a  wife  and  a  mother  to  my  five  small  motherless  child- 
ren, and  the  more  I  thought  about  it  the  better  I  thought  it  would  do. 
But  it  was  not  so  ordered  that  I  should  marry  Peggy,  for  before  I  had 
taken  any  active  measures  about  it,  I  heard  about  two  months  after  my 
brother  David's  advice  that  she  was  married  to  a  widower  named  George 
McCormick,  a  man  that  I  did  not  know,  but  I  was  at  the  time  acquainted 
with  two  of  his  brothers. 

After  that  it  was  not  long  till  I  began  to  throw  my  mind's  eye  about 
to  see  who  I  would  take  for  my  second  wife,  for  I  had  now  been  almost 
three  years  a  widower. 


1826.1  FAMILY  HISTORY.  209 

And  all  at  once  it  was  strongly  impressed  on  my  mind  as  if  some  one 
had  spoken  it :  "  Take  Jane  Hindman,  if  you  can  get  her."  Ay,  that 
was  the  rub,  "  take  her  if  you  can  get  her."  The  question  was  :  Will 
she  take  me  encumbered  as  I  am  with  the  care  of  five  children  ?  But  I 
determined  to  try,  and  from  that  time  Jane  Hindman  was  doomed  to 
marry  a  widower,  and  became  the  mother  of  five  children  not  her  own, 
but  she  did  not  know  her  doom  for  more  than  a  year  afterwards. 

A   QUILTING   PARTY. 

John  Scott  had  taken  charge  of  Jackson's  old  mill  on  Mclntyre  the 
spring  of  1825,  and  now  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1826,  I  had 
mentioned  to  him  that  I  had  some  notion  formed  that  I  did  intend  at 
some  convenient  opportunity  to  go  and  see  Jane  Hindman,  for  I  thought 
if  I  could  get  her,  she  would  make  the  best  wife  of  any  of  the  whole 
number  of  fifty  widows  and  old  maids  that  my  kind  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances had  recommended  to  me. 

And  now  I  do  not  know  why  I  spoke  of  it  to  John  Scott,  for  I  am 
sure  I  spoke  of  it  to  no  other  person  from  the  time  I  took  that  notion 
early  in  March,  1826,  until  the  time  came  around  the  September  follow- 
ing that  I  had  the  desired  interview  with  Jane  Hindman.  It  was  however 
finally  John, Scott  who  was  the  means  of  bringing  about  that  interview 
with  Jane,  and  it  happened  in  this  way. 

In  the  early  part  of  September,  Mrs.  Peggy  Jackson,  wife  of  James 
Jackson,  over  at  Jackson's  mill,  made  two  quilts  ready  for  quilting,  and 
gave  a  general  invitation  of  married  and  single  girls  to  come  and  quilt. 
The  married  women  had  their  quilt  framed  in  the  dwelling  house  and 
the  single  girls  had  theirs  in  the  upper  loft  of  the  mill.  Previous  to  the 
day  the  quilting  was  to  come  off,  John  Scott  came  over  from  Mclntyre 
to  Rush  Run,  and  said  to  me  that  as  I  had  e.xpressed  a  desire  to  have  an 
interview  with  Jane  Hindman,  now  was  my  time.  He  said  that  Mrs. 
Jackson  was  to  have  a  quilting  party  on  a  certain  day,  and  that  the  girls 
would  quilt  up  stairs  in  the  mill  loft ;  he  further  said  that  he  wanted  me 
to  come  over  on  the  day  of  the  quilting,  and  help  him  dress  a  pair  of 
mill-stones,  and  he  said  I  might  visit  the  girls  up  stairs  as  often  as  I 
pleased.  I  told  him  I  would  be  over,  and  I  felt  glad  when  the  day 
14 


210  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1826. 

came,  and  I  made  use  of  it  for  the  very  purpose  of  breaking  the  ice  that 
barred  my  interview  with  Jane  Hindman. 

That  day  I  was  at  the  mill  in  good  time,  and  saw  the  girls  collecting 
and  passing  up  stairs  as  they  arrived. 

Presently  in  came  Jane  Hindman  and  her  sister  Betsy,  and  they  passed 
up  stairs.  I  was  so  glad  of  it  that  it  was  not  an  hour  till  I  passed  up 
stairs  and  had  a  good  time  of  it,  but  I  did  not  disturb  Jane,  calculating 
that  her  time  was  coming.  Thus  once  in  awhile  I  would  leave  Scott  and 
the  mill-stone  and  slip  up  stairs,  a  place  of  much  attraction,  among  the 
girls.  But  at  length  evening  came,  and  supper  being  over,  I  accom- 
panied Jane  Hindman  home,  where  I  met  with  her  kind  mother,  with 
whom  I  conversed  for  some  time  about  the  common  affairs  of  life. 

However,  I  spent  the  evening  with  her  daughter  Jane,  and  before  we 
separated  I  obtained  the  privilege  of  calling  again  in  the  course  of  ten 
days.  But  I  staid  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  till  after  breakfast, 
and  then  left,  after  convincing  Jane  that  I  did  not  accompany  her  home 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  my  respects  to  her  mother  instead  of  herself; 
but  I  did  not  think  at  the  time  that  I  was  only  eleven  years  younger 
than  her  mother,  while  Jane  was  fifteen  years  younger  than  I  was. 

But  I  left  the  place  that  morning  so  dear  to  me,  and  I  gave  it  the 
name  of"  Pleasant  Hill." 

I  returned  to  Jackson's  where  my  horse  was,  and  I  staid  that  day  and 
helped  John  Scott  to  dress  up  the  mill-stones  that  I  had  done  so  little 
at  the  day  before,  and  I  returned  home  that  evening  well  satisfied  with 
my  trip.  During  this  month  of  September,  and  also  October,  Novem- 
ber, and  up  to  the  middle  of  December,  1826,  I  paid  a  number  of  visits 
with  a  full  endeavor  to  get  Jane  Hindman  to  marry  me,  but  to  no  pur- 
pose as  yet  up  to  this  time. 

It  was  some  time  the  first  week  in  October  that  I  and  old  John 
Jackson,  as  elders  of  old  Centre  Church,  concluded  to  visit  each 
Presbyterian  family  in  the  congregation  for  the  purpose  of  making  up 
by  subscription  the  sum  of  $200,  for  which  sum  the  Rev.  Jacob  Cozard 
promised  to  preach  at  Centre  one-half  his  time  for  one  year. 

Accordingly,  we  set  out,  and  during  the  day  we  visited  a  number  of 
families,  and  in  the  evening  Mr.  Jackson,  as  if  anticipating  my  desire, 
led  the  way  to  the  widow  Hindman's,   where  we   were   kindly  received, 


1826.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  211 

and  after  supper,  as  bed-time  approached,  Mr.  Jackson  went  about  wor- 
ship, and  retired  to  bed ;  but  I  did  not  join  him  till  some  time  later, 
for  I  staid  up  till  a  later  hour  and  conversed  in  a  very  agreeable  manner 
with  Jane  Hindman.  These  evenings  spent  with  her  were  among  the 
happiest  of  my  life,  if  pursuit  could  afford  more  happiness  than  enjoy- 
ment of  possession  ;  but  I  found  that  pursuit  had  its  ups  and  downs 
and  did  not  afford  real  happiness  like  possession. 

TRUE  LOVE  DID  NOT  RUN  SMOOTH. 

It  was  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  December,  1826,  and  when  I 
arrived  at  the  widow  Hindman's,  as  had  been  common,  by  turns,  for  the 
space  of  three  months,  I  found  John  Simeral  there.  He  had  dropped 
in  on  some  errand,  and  finding  that  I  had  arrived,  and  knowing  what  my 
errand  was  at  that  house,  for  it  had  soon  got  noised  abroad  that  I  was 
paying  my  addresses  to  Jane  Hindman,  he  staid  and  discoursed  with 
Betsy,  while  I  had  the  company  of  Jane. 

At  the  close  of  the  evening  I  mentioned  to  Jane  that  at  such  a  time 
I  would  be  back,  and  said  to  her  that  I  wished  her  to  have  her  mind 
made  up  on  the  subject  of  marriage  by  that  time.  She  replied  that  her 
mind  was  now  made  up  on  that  subject,  and  that  she  could  not  think  of 
marrying  me,  and  becoming  a  stepmother  to  my  five  children.  I  said 
to  her  that  she  certainly  could  not  be  in  earnest,  but  she  replied  that 
she  certainly  was  in  earnest,  and  that  I  need  not  trouble  her  any  more 
on  that  subject.  I  said  to  her:  "  As  to  the  children  I  will  not  part  with 
them  on  any  consideration,  and  the  woman  that  will  not  take  me  with  the 
children  will  not  get  me  without  them ;  "  but  it  was  no  use  to  contend, 
for  Jane  would  have  it  all  her  own  way ;  it  was  arbitrary  and  despotic. 

I  and  John  Simeral  retired  to  bed  in  the  little  additional  apartment 
where  I  usually  slept  on  all  my  former  visits,  and  where  two  months  be- 
fore I  had  slept  so  comfortably  with  old  John  Jackson.  But  this  night 
with  Simeral  I  did  not  sleep  well ;  I  felt  badly,  and  was  cast  down  in  my 
mind,  and  after  a  poor  night's  rest,  morning  came,  but  it  brought  me  no 
relief.  But  as  usual  I  staid  till  after  breakfast,  and  before  leaving  I  begged 
of  Jane  the  privilege  of  coming  back  in  a  week  or  two  to  see  if  we  could  not 
come  to  a  fair  understanding  again,  but  this  she  would  not  grant.  I  then 
kindly  bid  each  one  farewell,  expecting  this  to  be  my  last  interview  there. 


212  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

I  went  home,  but  felt  gloomy  and  downhearted  ;  so  much  so,  though  I 
tried  to  conceal  it  as  much  as  possible,  that  my  mother-in-law  with  her 
eagle  eye  noticed  that  something  was  wrong  with  me.  She  noticed  that 
I  was  not  as  cheerful  and  lively  as  usual,  and  she  noticed  also  that  when 
the  usual  time  of  paying  my  stated  visits  to  Jane  came  around,  1  did  not 
go.  Hence  she  judged  that  something  was  wrong  in  that  quarter,  and 
at  length  inquired  of  me  what  was  the  matter.  I  said  there  was  nothing 
in  particular,  but  she  said  she  knew  there  was,  and  asked  if  Jane  and  I 
had  fallen  out.     I  replied  that  she  had  completely  refused  me. 

CHEERFUL  ADVICE  TO  A  LOVER. 

"  Well,"  said  mother-in-law,  "  never  mind  it ;  don't  let  it  trouble  you 
one  bit;  stay  away  for  two  or  three  months  and  then  go  back,  and  I  will 
insure  that  you  and  Jane  will  soon  make  it  up." 

This  advice  of  mother-in-law  revived  my  drooping  spirits  the  best  of 
any  that  I  had  ever  received,  and  from  that  day  forward  I  never  doubted 
but  that  it  would  all  come  out  right,  and  that  Jane  would  be  my  wife. 

And  what  helped  to  strengthen  my  belief.  I  dreamed  one  night  not  long 
after  this,  that  I  came  into  our  back  parlor  room,  and  there  sat  my  wife 
Jane  Hindman,  in  a  rocking-chair,  and  had  with  her  three  of  her  own 
children  by  me  since  our  marriage ;  one,  the  youngest,  on  her  lap,  and 
two  of  different  sizes  and  ages  standing  beside  her. 

And  for  six  years  after  we  were  married,  still  remembering  my  dream, 
I  was  so  simple  as  to  believe  that  my  wife  Jane  would  have  only  three 
children.  But  in  the  course  of  time  she  undeceived  me,  for  finally  she 
bore  me  seven  children,  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  they  are  all  living 
and  well  this  first  day  of  March,  1864,  and  all  now  raised  up  to  be 
young  men  and  women ; — and  they  are  all  living  and  well  this  1 5th  day 
of  April,  1872. 

HOW   IT   WAS   MADE    UP. 

During  the  interval,  after  Jane  Hindman  had  refused  to  allow  my  at- 
tentions, I  spent  three  weeks,  in  company  with  my  brother-in-law  Joseph 
Kithcart,  visiting  friends  in  Fayette  County,  and  we  arrived  home  again 
on  the  2d  day  of  February,  1827.  Already  the  water-wheel  of  the  mill 
was  free  from  ice,  and  the  mill  was  going  in  good  order  under  the  direc- 
tion of  my  brother  John. 


1827.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  213 

The  very  next  day  after  my  arrival  home,  John  would  have  me  go  out  in 
the  country  among  the  farmers  and  engage  what  wheat  I  could  at  fifty  cents 
a  bushel.  I  called  with  a  number  of  farmers  and  engaged  several  hundred 
bushels  of  wheat,  and  among  others,  with  old  Nathan  Woods,  and  took 
dinner,  and  engaged  200  bushels.  By  evening  of  that  day  I  called  in  at  old 
Andy  Lockard's  and  engaged  the  balance  of  his  crop,  being  fifty  bushels. 
While  at  his  house  Mrs.  Hindman  came  in,  knowing  that  I  had  just  re- 
turned from  Fayette  County,  to  inquire  of  me  if  I  had  seen  her  daughter 
Betsy  at  old  John  Johnson's  tavern. 

John  Johnson  kept  a  tavern  in  Washington,  Pa.,  and  he  was  a  cousin 
of  Mrs.  Hindman's ;  her  daughter  Betsy  was  there  visiting,  and  had 
over-staid  her  time,  so  that  her  mother  began  to  be  somewhat  uneasy 
about  her.  But  I  was  not  able  to  give  the  old  lady  any  account  of 
Betsy,  as  I  and  Joseph  Kithcart  did  not  stop  this  time  at  John  Johnson's 
tavern  as  we  passed  through  Washington. 

The  old  lady  staid  but  a  short  time  in  Andy  Lockard's  and  soon 
started  back  home.  As  I  had  completed  my  business  with  Andy,  I 
started  out  to  follow,  and  as  I  passed  young  Andy  Lockard  out  in  the 
yard,  I  said  to  him  :  "  Andy,  the  time  has  come  for  you  to  renew  your  suit 
with  Mary  Carson;  I  am  just  going  up  to  renew  mine  with  Jane  Hind- 
man."  "  Are  you  ?  "  said  Andy  ;  "  then  I  believe  I'll  try  it  too."  And 
sure  enough,  Andy  did  try,  and  succeeded,  for  he  had  been  refused 
shortly  after  I  had  been  ;  but  he  was  now  successful,  and  married  Mary 
Carson  about  a  year  afterwards. 

I  left  Andy  quick  and  mounted  my  horse  and  rode  up  the  lane  to  the 
house  of  Mrs.  Hindman,  and  got  into  the  house  before  her,  as  she  had 
taken  round  through  the  field,  for  the  road  was  very  muddy. 

When  I  arrived  I  found  no  one  in  but  the  very  one  I  came  to  see,  in 
the  person  of  Jane  Hindman.  I  approached  and  shook  hands  with  her 
very  cordially,  and  she  appeared  very  pleasant  and  agreeable,  and  I 
thought  I  had  never  seen  her  look  better.  I  sat  down  near  her,  and  yet 
at  a  respectful  distance,  and  entered  into  conversation,  but  soon  her 
mother  came  in  and  kindly  invited  me  to  lay  off  my  great  coat  and  leg- 
gins,  which  I  did ;  and  while  the  old  lady  went  about  and  did  up  her 
work,  I  kept  up  the  conversation  with  her  daughter  Jane,  and  glad  of 
the  opportunity.     And  it  proved  to  me  one  of  the  most  pleasant  eve- 


214  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

nings  and  pleasantest  interviews  that  I  ever  had  in  all  my  life;  for  that 
night  Jane  and  I  made  up  all  the  matter  of  difference  that  had  put  a  stop 
for  the  last  two  months  to  my  friendly  visits.  But  this  evening's  com- 
pany and  conversation  with  Jane  gave  me  a  new  charter  and  privilege  to 
come  and  go  and  to  converse  on  the  subject  of  marriage  free  from  re- 
straint, of  which  privilege  I  afterwards  made  good  use.  In  the  morning 
I  left  Jane  after  breakfast  to  reflect  on  all  that  had  passed  between  us, 
and  for  my  part  I  went  home  well  pleased,  and  went  to  work  in  the  old 
mill  joyfully.  At  the  end  of  ten  days  I  went  back  to  see  and  converse 
with  Jane,  and  by  that  time  I  found  that  her  sister  Betsy  had  returned 
from  Washington,  Pa.  She  informed  me  that  she  was  standing  at  an 
upper  window  in  the  house  of  her  cousin  John  Johnson,  and  saw  me 
and  Joseph  Kithcart  pass  by  on  our  way  homeward. 

I  found  Jane  at  home,  for  this  was  the  evening  of  our  appointment.  I 
had  laid  down  my  affections  on  her  nearly  fifteen  months  before  we  were 
married,  and  from  the  day  I  first  set  my  affections  on  Jane  Hindman  to 
this  hour — now  nearly  forty-six  years — I  have  never  had  the  least  reason 
to  regret  or  rue  that  I  did  lay  my  affections  on  her,  or  that  I  took  her  for 
my  partner  through  life. 

After  the  breach  was  made  up  all  things  went  on  between  us  to  our 
mutual  satisfaction,  and  in  all  my  visits  and  in  all  my  communications 
with  Jane,  I  acted  towards  her  as  one  ought  to  do  who  wished  to  make 
so  worthy  a  girl  his  wife. 

From  the  time  above  stated  I  made  my  visits  every  ten  days,  or  two 
weeks  at  the  farthest,  and  I  was  urged  on  by  Joseph  Kithcart,  brother  to 
my  first  wife,  who  came  over  from  Mount  Pleasant  every  two  weeks  or 
so  to  see  and  know  how  matters  were  progressing  between  Jane  and 
me,  at  which  times  I  reported  progress.  He  was  anxious  about  the 
matter,  as  his  sister  Martha,  who  kept  house  for  him  and  his  brother 
Cunningham,  was  promised  in  marriage  to  Smiley  Sharon,  and  their 
marriage  was  to  take  place  as  soon  as  I  could  marry  Jane  Hind- 
man,  so  as  to  release  his  mother  from  charge  of  my  family,  that 
she  might  go  and  take  Martha's  place  in  having  charge  of  their 
house. 

With  me  and  Jane  all  things  flowed  on  smoothly,  until  finally  we  be- 
came engaged  on  the  19th  of  April,  1827,  and  one  week  later  I  asked 


1827.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  215 

Jane's  mother's  consent,  which  the  old    lady  freely  gave,  and   the   same 
day  an  order  issued  to  get  the  marriage  hcense. 

THE    WEDDING    DAY. 

The  24th  of  May,  1827,  was  the  time  fixed  for  the  marriage  between 
myself  and  Jane  Hindman,  and  preparations  were  made  on  both  sides 
for  the  coming  event. 

I  had  a  few  choice  friends  invited  to  accompany  me  to  the  wedding, 
and  I  had  chosen  John  Sharon  as  my  waiter,  and  had  asked  Joseph 
Kithcart  and  his  sister  Kezia  to  go  with  us  over  to  the  marriage.  And 
Jane  Hindman  had  Mary  Ann  Brown  for  her  waiter,  and  John  Simeral 
and  several  others  as  invited  guests.  I  had  already  notified  the  Rev. 
Jacob  Cozard,  who  was  still  pastor  of  Old  Centre  Church,  to  be  on  hand 
that  day  to  tie  the  knot  and  make  us  truly  man  and  wife. 

I  presented  the  bride  with  two  pairs  of  white  gloves, — one  pair  of 
white  kid,  and  the  other  of  white  silk.  I  and  my  party  had  not  arrived 
long  before  we  were  called  up  upon  the  floor  facing  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Cozard,  and  he  said  the  ceremony  which  made  me  and  Jane  Hindman 
man  and  wife, — the  very  thing  I  had  all  along  been  anxiously  waiting 
for.  After  dinner  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cozard  made  ready  to  go  home,  as  he 
at  that  time  lived  some  six  miles  southeast  of  Wellsburg,  in  the  bounds 
of  Lower  Buffalo  Congregation.  I  had  given  my  waiter,  John  Sharon, 
a  $3  bill,  which  he  handed  to  him,  and  Mr.  Cozard  was  off.  The  amount 
paid  him  as  a  marriage  fee  was  rather  small  as  it  seemed,  and  so  it  was ; 
but  forty  and  fifty  years  ago  two  dollars  and  three  dollars  was  a  very 
common  marriage  fee. 

The  next  morning  being  the  infare  day,  soon  after  breakfast  we  made 
ready  to  start  for  home,  it  being  six  miles  from  Pleasant  Hill,  where  the 
Hindmans  lived,  to  Rush  Run  Mills,  where  the  Sherrards  lived.  I  had 
previously  given  an  invitation  to  all  the  young  people  of  the  bride's 
party,  which  they  had  cheerfully  accepted ;  and  when  all  were  mounted 
and  under  headway,  it  made  a  very  respectable  infare  party. 

On  arriving  home  we  found  all  things  in  order,  and  mother-in-law 
Kithcart  and  others  waiting  to  receive  us,  among  whom  was  Absalom 
Hall  and  his  wife. 

I  and  Jane  had  not  been  very  long  married  until  mother-in-law  Kith- 


216  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

cart  and  her  two  sons,  Joseph  and  Cunningham,  had  thoughts  of  her 
being  removed  to  Mount  Pleasant  to  keep  house  for  them,  so  that  her 
daughter  might  be  released  and  be  united  in  marriage,  according  to 
promise,  to  Smiley  Sharon.  To  bring  about  the  matter  of  her  removal, 
her  son  Joseph  came  over  to  see  me  about  it,  and  asked  me  how  soon  I 
could  move  mother  over  to  Mount  Pleasant.  I  answered  that  I  had  no 
part  nor  lot  in  the  matter.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  are  you  not  under  prom- 
ise to  move  her  in  any  direction  as  far  away  as  what  you  brought  her 
here  ?  "  "  No,  sir,"  said  I,  "  I  am  under  no  such  obligation.  Before  I 
brought  her  away  from  her  old  home,  she  expressed  a  fear  that  I  might 
soon  marry  again,  and  if  so,  that  would  put  her  to  the  necessity  of 
seeking  a  new  home,  and  no  way  of  moving  to  it.  But  I  said  to  your 
mother,  that  if  I  married  in  less  than  three  years,  I  would  promise  to 
move  her  to  any  place  she  might  choose  to  go,  as  far  away  as  I  would 
bring  her.  And  now  I  have  not  married  till  almost  four  years  have 
passed  round,  and  if  you  want  your  mother  to  keep  house  for  you,  do 
as  I  did  when  I  wanted  her  for  that  purpose."  And  that  ended  the 
matter ;  for  in  a  few  days  he  came  and  moved  his  mother  and  his  sister 
Kezia  to  his  home  at  Mount  Pleasant.  And  after  this,  preparations  were 
made  for  the  marriage  of  Martha  Kithcart  to  Smiley  Sharon,  which  was 
solemnized  on  Thursday,  June  21,  1827,  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson, 
pastor  at  the  time  of  the  Mount  Pleasant  Church,  and  I  and  my  new 
wife  Jane  were  at  the  wedding. 

THE    HINDMAN   ANCESTRY. 

And  now  being  married,  to  my  full  satisfaction,  to  the  girl  of  my 
thoughtful  choice,  and  settled  down  to  enjoy  that  happiness  and  satis- 
faction that  can  flow  only  from  a  mutual  union  of  sentiment,  springing 
up  and  flowing  out  from  the  well-cherished  affections  of  man  and  wife, 
each  pleased  the  one  with  the  other,  here  I  think  it  necessary  to  intro- 
duce some  of  my  wife  Jane's  relations  and  ancestors,  for  neither  she  nor 
I  have  any  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  them.  And  by  this  time  they  have 
grown  so  numerous  that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  follow  out  the  various 
branches.  Suflice  it  to  say,  that  the  ancestors  of  the  several  branches 
of  the  stock  emigrated  from  County  Down,  Ireland,  not  long  before 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  settled  in  the  little  State  of  Delaware. 


1827.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  217 

THE   JOHNSTON    FAMILY. 

In  1772  a  man  named  Johnston  with  his  wife  (their  Christian  names 
are  unknown)  left  County  Down,  Ireland,  with  their  six  children,  to 
come  to  America.  The  father  and  mother  both  died  on  ship-board, 
while  the  children,  whose  names  were  William,  Esther,  Jane,  Margaret, 
Elizabeth  and  Richard,  completed  the  voyage  to  America,  and  settled 
in  the  State  of  Delaware. 

When  they  arrived  in  America,  Richard,  the  youngest  of  the  six 
children,  was  nine  years  of  age.  The  three  older  were  married  in  Dela- 
ware,— William  to  Elizabeth  Laughlin,  in  1772;  Esther  to  Hugh  Jack- 
son, in  1777  ;  and  Jane  to  James  Hindman,  in  1777.  These,  with  the  three 
younger  Johnston  children,  all  came  together,  in  the  spring  of  1791,  out 
to  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and  settled  near  Canonsburg  in  the  bounds 
of  Chartiers  Presbyterian  Church,  which  they  all  joined  by  certificate 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  John  McMillan,  D.D.  The  Johnstons 
being  of  a  Scotch-Irish  family  in  Ireland,  were  all  Presbyterians,  and 
being  descended  from  a  religious  stock  of  ancestors,  they  would  not 
permit  themselves  to  be  connected  with  non-professors,  nor  any  of  the 
wild  breed  of  people. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  into  a  minute  detail  of  all  these  six 
children,  only  to  say  that  the  three  younger  members  of  this  Johnston 
family,  in  a  short  time  after  they  were  settled,  near  Canonsburg,  were 
married,  and  all  did  well  in  that  particular.  Margaret  married  Robert 
Anderson,  and  they  settled  near  Claysville,  Washington  County,  Pa. ; 
Elizabeth  married  William  Campbell,  and  they  lived  on  a  beautiful  farm 
of  300  acres  south  of  Canonsburg,  and  afterwards  moved  out  to  Wood 
County,  Ohio;  and  Richard  married  Jane  Bradford,  August  23,  1796, 
and  they  lived  on  a  farm  two  miles  south  of  Canonsburg,  where  their 
grandsons,  Richard  Van  Eman  Johnson  and  Bradford  Johnson,  still  live- 
The  spelling  of  the  name  was  changed  in  later  times. 

I  shall  now  confine  myself  to  speak  of  the  two  older  daughters  of 
the  Johnston  family,  as  my  wife,  Jane  Hindman,  is  a  granddaughter  of 
both  of  them. 

Esther  Johnston,  who  married  Hugh  Jackston,  had  only  one  child,  a 
daughter  named  Nancy,  who  was  born  in  1778,  and  was  thirteen  years 


218  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

old  when  they  moved  out  from  Delaware  to  Washington  County. 
Jane  Johnston,  who  married  James  Hindman,  had  four  children,  all  boys, 
William,  John,  Richard  and  Robert. 

They  were  all  born  east  of  the  mountains,  and  came  out  with  their 
father  and  mother,  in  1 79 1 ,  to  Washington  County,  and  their  father,  James 
Hindman,  died  while  the  boys  were  yet  young,  in  1801.  John  Hindman 
was  born  in  1780,  and  as  he  and  his  cousin,  Nancy  Jackson,  were 
brought  up  in  the  same  neighborhood,  and  went  to  school  together,  and 
had  the  privilege  of  seeing  each  other  at  church  every  Sabbath  day,  it 
need  not  be  wondered  that  they  early  formed  an  attachment  for  each 
other.  This  attachment  grew  into  love  and  affection,  and  finally  into  a 
marriage  contract,  and  they  were  accordingly  married  by  the  Rev.  John 
McMillan  in  the  year  1803,  and  it  was  said  that  they  were  the  finest 
looking  couple  that  ever  made  their  appearance  at  the  Chartiers  Church. 
They  lived  in  a  house  which  stood  on  the  sloping  and  rising  ground 
just  southeast  of  Chartiers  Creek,  two  miles  south  of  the  town  of  Canons- 
burg,  quite  near  to  the  site  of  the  present  brick  dwelling-house  owned 
and  occupied  by  Richard  Van  Eman  Johnson. 

All  traces  of  the  old  house  have  long  since  disappeared,  but  here 
John  Hindman  and  his  wife,  Nancy  Jackson,  lived,  and  here  their  two 
oldest  children  were  born, — Jane,  born  December  14,  1804,  and  Eliza- 
beth, born  January  31,  1807. 

This  same  Jane  Hindman,  eldest  daughter  of  John  and  Nancy  Jack- 
son Hindman,  when  she  was  twenty-two  years,  five  months  and  nine 
days  old,  was  married  to  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  the  writer  of  this  account, 
and  her  sister  Elizabeth,  born  two  years  after  her  sister  Jane,  was  married 
January  8,  1835,  to  Robert  Lee,  a  farmer  of  Washington  County,  Pa., 
near  Cross  Creek  Village. 

JOHN    HINDMAN    MOVES   TO    OHIO. 

John  Hindman,  the  father  of  Jane  and  Elizabeth,  bought  a  small  farm 
in  Cross  Creek  Township,  Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  and  the  ist  of  April, 
1 8 10,  he  moved  his  family  out  there  from  Washington  County,  and  there 
were  three  children,  all  boys,  born  there  in  Ohio,  but  they  did  not  live  to 
grow  up  to  manhood.  Their  names  were  :  James,  born  iSio,  and  Hugh, 
born  18 13,  and  they  both  died  in  the  year  1 8 15.   The  youngest  was  John 


1827.]        •  FAMILY  HISTORY.  219 

Jackson,  who  was  born  in  iSig,  but  he  died  when  only  eighteen 
months  old. 

Hugh  Jackson  and  his  wife  Esther,  the  father  and  mother  of  Nancy- 
Jackson  Hindman,  moved  out  to  Ohio  in  1812,  and  lived  with  their  son- 
in-law  John  Hindman  on  Mclntyre.  They  both  died  in  the  year  1815, 
and  were  buried  at  old  Centre.  The  widow  of  James  Hindman,  Jane 
Johnston  Hindman,  with  her  other  sons,  Richard  and  Robert,  moved  out 
to  Ohio  in  1812,  and  lived  just  beside  Centre  Church  to  the  southwest 
of  it,  and  only  two  miles  from  her  son  John.  Richard  Hindman  was 
already  married  while  they  yet  lived  near  Canonsburg,  and  they  all 
brought  their  certificates  of  membership  in  Chartiers  Church  from  under 
the  hand  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  McMillan,  and  united  with  Centre  Church 
in  1812. 

Robert  Hindman  married  Sidney  Miller  January  6,  1820;  she  had 
already  united  with  Centre  Church  in  18 14. 

However,  in  1822  Robert  moved  to  Washington,  Pa.,  and  took  his 
mother  to  live  with  him  there,  and  he  and  his  wife  and  mother  all  lifted 
their  certificates  from  Centre  and  joined  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Washington,  virhere  their  membership  remained  until  their  death. 

It  was  on  the  21st  of  February,  1823,  that  I  was  returning  home  from 
a  visit  to  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  and  I  was  bringing  Cunningham  Kithcart 
home  with  me,  when  we  stopped  on  our  way  in  Washington  with  the  full 
intention  of  witnessing  the  execution  of  old  Crawford,  who  was  to  be 
hung  that  day.  For  that  purpose  we  stopped  at  John  Johnson's  public 
house.  While  in  town  that  morning  I  saw  and  conversed  with  my  pres- 
ent wife's  grandmother,  Jane  Johnston  Hindman,  for  the  last  time.  She 
was  then  living  with  her  son  Robert,  and  I  found  her  kind,  courteous 
and  affable;  nor  did  either  of  us  think,  at  the  time,  that  in  four  years 
afterward  I  would  be  married  to  her  granddaughter  Jane  Hindman.  She 
died  the  next  year,  in  1824,  over  near  Canonsburg,  while  on  a  visit  to  her 
relatives  the  Johnstons. 

Her  son  Richard  Hindman  continued  to  live  on  the  farm  adjoining 
Centre  Church  until  April  r,  1831,  when  he  removed  with  his  family  to 
Washington,  Pa.,  and  they  afterwards  moved  out  to  Windsor  Township, 
Morgan  County,  Ohio. 

He  had  several  children.     In  a  letter  to  me  dated  March  29,  1837,  he 


220  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

says:  "We  have  not  had  good  health  since  we  came  to  this  county. 
Seven  of  the  children  have  had  a  hard  spell  of  the  ague  and  fever." 

Robert  Hindman  died  in  Washington,  Pa.,  in  1856,  leaving  one  child, 
Elizabeth,  who  was  married  to  David  Gray. 

The  mother  of  these  three  sons,  John,  Richard  and  Robert  Hindman, 
was  truly  an  aged  mother  in  Israel,  and  as  such,  no  one  acquainted 
with  her  at  any  time  during  her  long  sojourn  on  earth  as  a  professing 
Christian,  had  any  reason  to  suspect  the  genuineness  of  her  piety.  She 
brought  up  her  children  and  trained  them  to  walk  in  the  way  they 
should  go,  and  they  did  not  depart  from  it. 

She  was  early  left  a  widow  when  her  children  were  very  young,  and 
for  long  years  she  had  to  tread  the  thorny  path  of  life  alone,  unaided  by 
the  help  and  support  of  her  husband.  But  God  was  her  support ;  she 
was  conscientious  in  the  performance  of  her  Christian  duties,  and  after 
the  decease  of  her  husband  for  long  years,  she  was  prompt  in  keeping  up 
family  worship  until  her  eldest  son  John  took  upon  himself  the  perform- 
ance of  that  duty  before  he  had  yet  arrived  at  man's  years. 

(On  October  9,  1888,  my  mother  said  to  me:  "My  grand-mother, 
Jane  Hindman,  had  the  greatest  gift  in  prayer,  and  my  own  mother 
would  lead  family  worship  well.  But  my  grand-mother  was  wonderfully 
gifted  in  prayer,  and  her  language  was  remarkably  well  chosen.  I  re- 
member that  when  I  was  a  little  girl  she  would  pray  and  pray,  and  I 
would  go  to  sleep  at  worship,  and  would  wake  up,  and  she  would  still 
be  praying.  She  was  a  great  singer,  too,  but  she  always  sang  Rouse's 
Version  of  the  Psalms — she  did  not  like  Watts'  Hymns.  My  father, 
John  Hindman,  could  not  sing,  although  he  was  very  fond  of  singing; 
but  his  brother  Robert  was  a  singer." — T.  J.  S.) 

CHARACTER   OF   JOHN    HINDMAN. 

When  John  Hindman  and  his  wife  moved  into  the  bounds  of  Centre 
congregation  the  spring  of  18 10,  and  settled  on  his  farm,  which  he  had 
purchased  of  Thomas  Williams,  two  miles  north  of  Centre  Church,  they 
brought  with  them  certificates  of  membership  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Chartiers,  and  now  united  with  Centre,  which  had  just  been  organized, 
and  the  Rev.  Abram  Scott  was  the  first  pastor.  He  and  his  wife  and 
John  Hindman  and  his  wife,  had  been  brought  up  together  from  early 


1827.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  221 

youth  ill  the  same  neighborhood,  near  Canonsburg,  and  belonged  to  the 
same  Chartiers  Church.  John  Hindman  had  been  in  connection  with 
Centre  only  a  month  when  he  and  John  Jackson  were  elected  the  first 
Elders  of  that  church  in  the  month  of  May,  1810,  when  John  Hindman 
was  only  thirt)'  years  of  age. 

This  John  Jackson  was  no  relation  whatever  to  John  Hindman,  but 
they  were  steadfast  friends,  and  the  latter  called  his  youngest  son  for  the 
former. 

When  in  a  few  days  the  pastor  called  to  see  if  these  newly  elected 
Elders  would  serve,  John  Jackson  made  no  objection,  but  stated  that  as 
it  had  been  the  will  of  the  people  to  elect  him  he  would  serve  to  the  best 
of  his  ability ;  but  John  Hindman  objected,  and  gave  as  his  reason  that 
he  did  not  think  himself  fit  to  be  an  Elder  in  the  church.  But  Mr. 
Scott,  knowing  him  from  his  youth,  and  having  a  more  exalted  opinion 
of  his  piety  and  qualifications  than  he  himself  had,  would  not  be  put  off 
with  his  excuse,  but  argued  with  him  that  God  would  have  a  church 
here  on  earth,  and  there  must  be  pillars  set  apart  and  placed  in  the 
church  to  support,  strengthen  and  uphold  it ;  and  as  he  had  been  chosen 
from  amongst  his  brethren  to  that  ofBce,  he  must  make  no  excuse  as  to 
his  unfitness  to  fill  that  office,  that  if  he  did  it  would  be  sinful  in  him  to 
do  so,  and  that  if  he  refused  to  serve,  God  would  in  some  way  chastise 
him  for  so  doing. 

After  Mr.  Hindman  had  well  considered  and  weighed  the  matter  in 
his  own  mind,  he  gave  his  consent  to  serve,  and  the  next  Sabbath  was 
appointed  for  their  ordination  ;  and  the  first  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  held  about  the  middle  of  May,  1810,  when  there  were  about 
twenty-four  members  sat  down  at  the  table. 

John  Hindman  was  in  stature  and  appearance  tall,  large  and  heavy 
set,  and  of  commanding  presence,  and  in  character  he  was  a  man  of 
strict  integrity  and  honesty,  whose  word  was  always  to  be  relied  upon, 
and  he  was  a  man  eminent  for  his  piety,  and  much  beloved  for  his 
good  qualities.  He  was  remarkably  gifted  in  prayer,  so  much  so  that 
his  daughter  Jane  testifies  that  she  never  heard  him  pray  that  there 
was  not  some  new  expression. 

He  was  a  useful  member  of  society,  both  in  church  and  state.  He 
was  often  chosen  to  fill    the  offices  of   his  township,  and    often  called 


222  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

to  settle  disputes  between  neighbors  by  arbitration.  He  served  re- 
peatedly as  trustee  of  Cross  Creek  township,  and  his  neighbors  fre- 
quently requested  him  to  accept  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  at 
their  hands,  but  he  as  steadily  refused,  knowing  that  as  he  was  single- 
handed  on  his  farm,  that  office  would  prove  very  troublesome  and 
very  unprofitable  to  him. 

When  the  war  with  Great  Britain  broke  out  the  summer  of  1812,  he 
was  drafted  in  the  first  call,  but  he  could  not  go  and  leave  a  wife  and 
helpless  family  of  small  children  behind  him,  but  go  he  must  or  find 
a  substitute. 

He  chose  the  latter,  and  succeeded  in  hiring  a  man  by  the  name 
of  McCuUough,  and  had  to  give  him  ^lOO,  a  good  blanket  and  a 
good  pair  of  new  stockings,  as  well  as  the  army  pay,  which  was 
but  $7  a  month,  to  take  his  place  for  six  months.  At  the  time  John 
Hindman  paid  out  the  $100  for  a  substitute  he  could  but  illy  spare 
the  money,  as  he  needed  it  to  pay  in  part  for  his  nice  small  farm 
which  he  had  bought,  the  same  that  I  afterwards  in  the  fall  of  1826 
called  "  Pleasant  Hill,"  in  consequence  of  the  many  pleasant  hours  I 
spent  there  conversing  with  his  daughter  Jane,  and  this  was  at  least 
six  years  after  the  death  of  her  father,  which  took  place  August  23, 
1820. 

His  death  was  sudden  and  very  unexpected,  and  took  the  family 
in  a  complete  surprise.  He  got  a  tooth  extracted,  and  an  inflamma- 
tion took  place  in  the  spot  from  which  the  tooth  had  been  drawn,  while 
the  inflammation  extended  down  and  seated  itself  in  the  throat;  this 
brought  on  quinsy,  and  on  the  fatal  Thursday  there  was  a  sudden  stran- 
gulation which  produced  death  immediately,  and  that  in  the  fortieth 
year  of  his  age,  and  as  yet  a  young  man  of  middle  age. 

And  Oh,  how  lonely  he  left  a  loving  wife  and  two  fine,  interesting 
young  daughters  just  budding  and  almost  blooming  into  womanhood ; 
and  what  they  suffered  in  the  loss  of  a  kind  husband  and  parent,  no  one 
but  themselves  could  tell.  I  remember  for  two  or  three  years  after  his 
death,  at  any  time  we  had  preaching  at  Centre  Church,  and  from  the 
spring  of  1821  we  had  the  Rev.  Jacob  Cozard  to  preach  for  us  every 
other  Sabbath  onward  till  1828,  Mrs.  Hindman  would  go  often  to  her 
Jiusband's  grave  and  weep  over  the  place  where  lay  all  that  remained  of 


1827.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  223 

the  one  she  once  loved.  And  although  I  frequently  saw  the  tears  she 
shed,  and  in  some  sort  felt  a  degree  of  sympathy  for  her  under  her 
sore  bereavement,  yet  I  never  felt  that  true  and  genuine  sympathy 
for  her,  until  about  the  end  of  three  years  after  her  loss,  at  which 
time  my  first  wife,  Mary  Kithcart,  died,  the  last  day  of  July,  1823, 
and  was  laid  in  the  same  graveyard  with  John  Hindman  ;  then, 
and  not  till  then,  did  I  properly  sj'mpathize  with  Mrs.  Hindman. 
After  the  death  of  John  Hindman,  his  widow  and  her  two  daughters 
were  left  to  struggle  on  for  days  and  months  and  years  as  best 
they  could,  as  they  had  a  debt  to  pay  off  for  the  land  on  which 
they  lived.  This  took  industry  and  economy  to  pay  for  the  farm  and  at 
the  same  time  keep  up  the  necessaries  of  the  house,  as  well  as  to  furnish 
the  two  daughters  with  suitable  equipments  to  appear  in  public  as  be- 
came them  in  their  station.  And  yet  this  was  all  done  within  the  first 
seven  years,  and  that  before  Jane  was  married. 

SECOND    MARRIAGE    OF    MRS.    HIXDMAN. 

However,  at  the  end  of  nearly  ten  years  after  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, Mrs.  Nancy  Jackson  Hindman  was  induced  to  marry  a  second 
time,  and  accordingly  took  the  offer  of  a  very  worthy  man,  Mr.  John 
Orr,  of  Holliday's  Cove,  Virginia.  Although  she  had  had  several  offers 
of  marriage  during  the  ten  years  that  rolled  over  her  as  a  widow,  yet 
none  of  them  suited  her  fancy  until  she  met  with  Mr.  Orr,  and  they 
were  married  on  the  15th  of  April,  1830,  at  her  residence  on  "  Pleasant 
Hill,"  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beatty,  of  Steubenville.  For  nearly  nine  years 
she  lived  comfortably  and  happily  with  her  husband  over  in  his  home  at 
Holliday's  Cove,  until  her  death  was  brought  about  indirectly  from  an 
accident  in  being  thrown  off  a  horse. 

She  recovered  to  some  extent  from  the  effects  of  the  shock,  and  about 
a  year  after  the  accident  she  paid  us  a  visit,  which  was  on  October  30, 
1838.  It  was  not  many  days  after  her  return  home  from  this  last  visit 
that  she  became  confined  to  her  bed,  where  she  lingered  till  her  death, 
on  February  4th,  1839.  ^'^^  was  buried  at  Three  Springs  Church,  above 
the  Cove.  She  died  much  respected  and  lamented  by  all  who  knew 
her,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  her  age.  She  felt  it  a  duty  at  all  times, 
when  she  was  able,  to  visit  the  sick  in  her  immediate  neighborhood,  and 


224  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 

to  cheer  and  console  them,  assisting  them  as  best  she  could  in  their 
sickness  and  distress ;  and  I  would  remark  in  this  place  that  this  mar- 
riage between  Nancy  Hindman  and  John  Orr  is  a  lasting  instance,  as 
well  as  that  of  my  marriage  with  her  daughter  Jane  Hindman,  that 
proves  the  old  saying  is  not  true,  that  second  marriages  never  do  well. 
For  my  part  I  could  never  see  any  reason  why  second  marriages  could 
not  do  as  well  as  first  marriages,  if  proper  care  be  always  taken  by  the 
parties  to  make  a  proper  choice  in  the  second  as  well  as  the  first. 

FAMILY   CONNECTIONS. 

On  the  foregoing  pages  I  have  given  a  true  statement  and  yet  a 
running  and  brief  account  of  some  of  the  ancestors  of  my  present  wife, 
Jane  Hindman.  And  I  have  been  the  more  particular  to  do  it,  because 
none  of  the  seven  children  she  has  borne  and  brought  up  has  seen  her 
father,  John  Hindman,  and  some  of  them  have  never  seen  her  mother, 
Nancy  Hindman.  And  I  hope  it  may  be  a  gratification  to  some  of  them 
at  least  to  have  this  record  to  go  to,  in  order  to  gain  some  knowledge 
as  to  who  their  ancestors,  on  their  mother's  side,  were,  and  not  to  be 
left  in  the  dark  as  to  that  subject,  as  much  so  as  if  their  mother  had 
dropped  from  the  clouds. 

MY  WIFE,   JANE     HINDMAN. 

To  show  my  appreciation  of  my  wife,  Jane  Hindman,  and  her  wise 
counsel,  I  will  here  relate  an  incident  that  happened  twent}-  years  after 
our  marriage.  In  April,  1847,  our  neighbor,  David  Foster,  wished  to 
purchase  a  small  piece  of  my  farm  lying  down  on  the  bottom  on  the 
northwestern  corner  of  the  farm  just  adjoining  Foster's  land. 

It  consisted  of  about  three  acres  and  a  quarter,  but  before  it  was 
m(;asured  Foster  offered  me  ^50  for  the  piece,  be  it  more  or  less,  but  I 
told  him  I  would  take  no  such  price  for  it,  as  I  computed  it  at  three 
acres  without  measuring,  and  my  farm  was  worth  $50  an  acre. 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  met  Foster  and  he  offered  me  $50  an  acre 
for  three  acres,  but  I  told  him  I  would  go  home  and  consult  my  wife 
about  it,  as  she  would  have  to  sign  the  deed.  He  asked  me  to  give  him 
an  answer  soon,  as  he  wished  to  get  that  lot  to  build  a  tenant  house  on 
it  for  a  home  for  old  black  Bill  Westbrook  to  live  in  during  his  natural 


1827.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  225 

life.  When  I  mentioned  the  matter  to  my  wife  she  rephed :  "  You  are 
not  in  debt  and  have  no  need  to  sell  it,  and  I  will  not  sign  the  deed.  If 
you  were  to  sell  it,  and  Foster  would  build  a  house  on  it,  the  old  colored 
man  might  not  live  long  to  occupy  it,  and  then  Foster  would  rent  it  to 
some  one  over  whom  you  would  have  no  control,  and  such  tenants 
might  become  a  very  great  annoyance  to  you  by  stealing  your  fruit  and 
burning  your  fence-rails."  I  soon  saw  that  my  wife  was  right  and  her 
objections  well  founded,  and  her  counsel  bore  the  marks  of  wisdom  ; 
and  I  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  would  take  her  advice  and 
keep  every  foot  of  my  land. 

I  reported  to  Foster  that  my  wife  was  opposed  to  selling  the  land  and 
would  not  sign  the  deed,  and  he  in  turn  appeared  to  take  it  ill  that  I  would 
not  sell  him  the  land  on  which  he  had  set  his  heart,  and  asked  me  if 
my  wife  ruled  over  me  in  that  style.  I  replied  that  she  did  in  the  case 
of  selling  a  piece  of  our  farm  when  there  was  no  necessity  for  it. 

And  I  have  ever  been  glad  to  this  hour,  seven  o'clock  Thursday, 
August  5,  1869,  that  I  had  got  a  partner  in  life  of  healthy  body  and 
strong  mind,  and  of  sufficient  good  judgment  naturally  to  be  able 
to  pass  judgment  and  give  good  advice  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions. 

Such  a  wife  I  found  in  Jane  Hindman,  and  was  not  deceived  when  I 
formed  a  correct  judgment  of  her  qualities  and  qualifications  suitable 
for  a  good  wife,  and  suitable  as  a  partner  in  life,  when  it  was  borne  in 
upon  my  mind  about  the  first  week  in  March,  1826,  at  which  time  I 
gave  her  up  my  affections  to  be  disposed  of  by  her  as  she  pleased.  The 
old  colored  darkey  VVestbrook  once  told  me  that  he  was  seventeen 
years  old  when  the  tea  was  thrown  overboard  at  Boston,  December, 
1773.  That  would  make  him  to  be  born  the  year  after  Braddock's 
defeat.  He  died  on  the  old  farm  where  he  lived  so  long  September  17, 
1854,  aged  ninety-eight. 


226  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1827. 


S  ECT  ION     XII. 

1827-1830. 

THE  MILLING  BUSINESS. 

I  MUST  now  return  to  matters  of  other  sort  worthy  of  recording 
that  occurred  in  my  experience  through  a  long  life.  Attending 
the  old  Rush  Run  Mills  was  an  every  day  business,  attended  to  as 
a  matter  of  livelihood,  and  produced  but  few  events  worth  recording. 
But  I  might  be  allowed  here  to  say  that  the  business  of  a  mill  in  attend- 
ing to  the  grinding  for  the  country  people,  but  more  particularly  the 
purchase  of  wheat  and  the  manufacturing  of  it  into  flour,  and  then 
making  sale  of  the  flour,  all  this  has  its  advantages  and  disadvantages, 
its  anxieties  and  sometimes  vexations.  And  above  all,  it  has  its  tempta- 
tions, and  is  well  calculated  to  try  men's  souls  whether  they  will  be 
honest  or  not,  and  whether  the  miller  will  deal  justly  with  his  fellow- 
men  or  not. 

While  the  miller  is  engaged  in  grinding  for  the  country  farmers,  the 
chance  is  daily  before  him  to  take  too  much  toll,  and  happy  is  that 
miller  who  can  daily  meet  that  temptation  and  roll  it  back  on  the  evil 
one  whence  it  came.  The  miller,  the  blacksmith,  the  weaver  and  the 
tailor  have  all  been  blamed  for  centuries  past,  as  "cabbaging"  trades, 
and  not  without  cause,  for  it  is  not  every  man  or  woman  that  can  resist 
temptations  of  various  kinds  that  beset  their  way  through  life,  unless 
truly  converted,  and  always  having  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes, 
watching  lest  they  should  do  wrong. 

Nothing  happened  the  summer  or  fall  of  1827,  except  that  on  Octo- 
ber 1 2th,  I  left  home  at  Rush  Run  in  company  with  John  Kithcart,  my 
brother-in-law,  and  we  went  out  to  Wooster  to  attend  a  land  sale  there 
on  the  20th.  On  our  way  we  visited  the  families  of  Thomas  Andrews 
and  Thomas  Kithcart,  and  at  the  sale  John  Kithcart,  who  had  come  all 
the  way  from  Uniontown,  Pa.,  to  buy  one  of  the  quarter  sections,  bid 
off  the  first  quarter  that  was  set  up  at  $375,  just  one  dollar  above  the 


1828.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  227 

appraisement.  The  land  was  on  Sugar  Creek,  and  John  Kithcart  was 
assured  that  he  got  the  quarter  that  had  on  it  a  noble  large  flowing 
spring. 

The  second  choice  quarter  I  myself  bid  off  at  just  two-thirds  of  the 
appraisement,  and  I  felt  proud  of  my  bargain.  I  told  John  Kithcart 
that  I  would  buy  his  quarter  of  him  at  any  time  that  he  might  wish  to 
sell,  but  he  kept  it,  and  a  man  who  lived  near  the  land  went  to  Union- 
town,  and  bought  the  quarter  of  him  at  gioo  advance  on  what  he  gave, 
so  that  he  fooled  his  land  away,  for  it  was  worth  as  much  more  as  he 
got  for  it  at  the  time. 

April  lo,  1828,  I  and  my  wife,  Jane  Hindman,  had  a  fine  healthy 
daughter  born  to  us,  and  in  honor  of  her  grandmother,  Mrs.  Hindman, 
we  had  her  called  and  christened  Nancy,  and  the  child  grew,  and  could 
sing  some  vocal  music  tunes  at  eighteen  months  old. 

SCHOOL    TEACHERS. 

The  summer  of  1828  we,  the  directors  of  our  school  district,  em- 
ployed David  Runyon  to  teach  school  for  us  for  six  months,  but  he  got 
tired  at  the  end  of  three  months,  and  he  got  John  Pelan,  with  our 
consent,  to  take  his  place. 

We  agreed  to  board  Pelan  round  among  the  employers,  but  he 
preferred  boarding  at  one  place,  and  made  choice  of  our  place,  provided 
we  would  board  him  for  seventy-five  cents  a  week.  I  studied  for  a 
moment,  and  replied  that  I  would,  and  the  boarding  of  a  school-teacher 
was  had  in  these  cheap  times  for  $1.00  a  week  ;  and  I  further  saw  at  a 
glance  that  as  I  was  the  highest  subscriber  on  the  school  article  with 
three  scholars.  I  would  have  Pelan  to  board  more  frequently  than  any 
other  family,  so  that  by  boarding  him  at  that  cheap  rate  I  would  have  $9 
in  cash,  and  so  Pelan  went  on  and  taught  out  the  three  months. 

During  the  time  that  Pelan  boarded  with  us,  after  school  was  out, 
both  morning  and  evening,  he  rarely  ceased  to  talk  about  the  coming 
election  for  President,  which  came  off  near  the  ist  of  November,  182S, 
in  a  race  between  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  present  incumbent,  and 
Andrew  Jackson.  Adams  was  our  choice,  for  Pelan  and  I  were  on  the 
same  side  in  politics,  and  we  both  felt  sure  that  Adams  would  win- 
We  talked  so  sure   and   so   much  about  it  that  we  quite  disgusted  my 


228  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1828. 

wife,  who  was  ready  to  wish  almost  that  Jackson  would  be  elected  that 
our  sanguine  hopes  might  be  disappointed ;  and  so  it  turned  out,  for 
Jackson  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1826,  James  Carmichael  took  our  school  for 
a  quarter  at  a  time,  for  I  felt  willing  to  have  him  teach  for  us  for  a 
quarter,  that  our  children  might  learn  Orthography,  a  very  necessary 
branch  to  be  taught  in  every  well-regulated  school ;  and  that  branch  was 
Carmichael's  hobby,  for  no  other  branch  could  he  teach  so  well.  I  had 
subscribed  three  scholars,  with  the  understanding  that  I  might  send  all 
five  and  he  would  teach  them,  only  I  must  give  up  a  small  perquisite  of 
six  or  eight  mills  a  day  for  each  day  the  two  extra  scholars  would  go. 
Our  boy  Robert  was  the  youngest  of  the  five  children  by  my  first  mar- 
riage, and  when  he  was  a  very  little  over  three  years  old,  at  the  time 
Carmichael  commenced  teaching,  he  would  not  stay  at  home  with  his 
grandmother,  but  would  go  with  the  other  children  to  school.  After  he 
had  been  going  to  old  Carmichael  for  three  months,  his  uncle  Cunning- 
ham Kithcart  got  him  to  try  to  say  his  letters  over,  but  he  could  not, 
and  Cunningham  turned  to  me  and  said  :  "  You  had  better  keep  this 
child  at  home,  for  he  has  learned  nothing,  and  is  only  a  bother  to  the 
master."  "  I  don't  care,"  said  I ;  "  Carmichael  is  to  teach  him,  and  bear 
the  bother  and  trouble  for  about  six  mills  per  day — the  perquisite  that 
may  come  from  Section  16  for  each  day  that  Robert  goes  to  school." 

But  in  contrast  with  this,  in  less  than  three  weeks,  one  evening  after 
school  was  out,  Robert  was  sitting  by  the  fire,  and  without  his  book  he 
began  to  spell  from  memory  a  number  of  words  in  three  syllables. 

And  from  that  time  Robert  made  progress  in  learning,  which  proves 
that  the  little  fellow,  young  as  he  was,  had  been  taking  in  something  that 
was  of  use  to  him. 

The  year  1829  came  in  with  a  cold  freezing  January,  and  the  water  in 
Rush  Run  was  almost  completely  frozen,  and  thereby  dried  up  till  the 
middle  of  February,  which  prevented  our  mill  from  going  till  the  ice 
melted,  and  the  rains  of  the  late  winter  came  bringing  water. 

It  was  very  desirable  to  get  the  mill  started  as  soon  as  possible,  for  we 
had  laid  in  a  very  large  stock  of  wheat  during  the  fall  and  winter  at 
high  prices,  mostly  90  cents  and  ^i  a  bushel.  And  now  came  an  anxious 
time  with  us  to  grind  out  this  large  stock  of  wheat,  and   sell,  if  possible, 


1829]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  229 

at  a  saving  profit.  And  it  must  be  admitted  that  anxiety  becomes  a 
companion  of  every  man  in  all  kinds  of  public  business  ;  and  this  year, 
1829,  was  throughout  calculated,  from  the  accumulation  of  business 
heaped  on  me,  to  keep  up  without  any  intermission  a  continued  scene  of 
activity,  and  with  it  a  full  share  of  anxiety.  And  no  wonder  when  I  left 
the  mill  the  1st  of  April,  1830,  and  got  to  farming,  that  I  felt  the  most 
happy  for  the  following  three  years  that  I  ever  before  or  since  enjoyed. 
And  why  ?  Because  I  was  set  free  from  an.xious  care  and  thought  that 
for  years  had  preyed  upon  my  mind  like  an  eating  canker  ;  but  now  on 
the  farm  that  burden  fell  off. 

A  man  that  is  pursuing  an  honest  calling,  clear  of  public  offices  and 
all  kinds  of  public  business  in  which  the  public  must  be  waited  on,  may 
keep  out  corroding  an.xious  thoughts  if  he  will,  but  it  is  the  misfortune 
of  thousands,  both  in  and  out  of  public  business,  that  they  never  are  on 
the  sunny  side,  but,  on  the  contrary,  are  always  viewing  the  dark  side  of 
the  picture,  which  always  keeps  the  mind  uneasy ;  and  such  have  poor 
enjoyment  in  life,  because  they  do  not  strive  to  keep  out  these  anxious 
troublesome  thoughts 

But  to  return  to  the  mill.  When  we  had  gotten  perhaps  one  hundred 
and  fifty  barrels  of  flour  ground  out  but  not  bolted,  we  had  an  applica- 
tion from  William  Simeral  for  five  or  six  hundred  barrels  of  flour  at  $6  a 
barrel.  But  we  declined  taking  Simeral's  offer,  as  we  had  learned  that 
Henry  Swearengen,  who  had  a  mill  on  Mclntyre,  had  made  a  contract 
with  Shaw,  Carson  &  Brother  for  all  the  flour  he  could  make  at  $6.25, 
and  we  expected  day  by  day  to  make  as  good  a  contract ;  but  for  some 
cause  we  had  no  other  offer  the  spring  or  summer  of  1829,  which  was  of 
itself  strange,  for  it  was  always  a  very  common  occurrence  that  when  the 
price  of  flour  was  up,  flour  speculators  were  passing  round  every  whip- 
stitch, to  see  how  cheap  they  could  purchase  flour  for  the  up  or  down 
trade. 

The  first  of  June  came,  and  by  this  time  several  hundred  barrels  of 
flour  were  ground  out  and  packed,  and  as  yet  no  sales  made,  which  began  to 
make  us  feel  that  something  must  be  done  to  dispose  of  so  large  a  stock. 

We  had  reports  from  various  quarters  that  flour  was  now  declining  in 
price,  and  the  warm  season  commencing  would  endanger  the  souring  of 
all  or  nearly  all  the  flour  that  might  lie  over  till  the  month  of  September. 


230  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1829. 

SELLING   FLOUR   IN   PITTSBURGH. 

Under  these  considerations,  I  and  my  brother  John  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  I  must  without  longer  delay  mount  a  horse  and  go  to  Pitts- 
burgh and  try  to  make  sale  of  what  I  could,  and  at  such  prices  by  agree- 
ment as  I  could  get. 

Accordingly  I  mounted  a  young  mare  of  my  own  raising,  which  was 
a  colt  from  the  old  dun  mare  that  brought  me  so  safe  over  the  Ohio 
River  by  swimming,  and  this  young  mare  was  the  best  piece  of  horse 
flesh  I  ever  raised. 

The  first  afternoon  I  rode  to  Florence,  twelve  miles  from  Steubenville 
eastward,  and  there  put  up  at  a  tavern  kept  by  John  Norton,  brother  of 
Thomas  Norton,  who  at  that  time  and  for  many  years  afterward  kept  the 
"  Black  Bear"  tavern,  a  noted  place  of  stopping  in  Steubenville. 

The  next  day  I  passed  on  to  McFarland's  tavern,  twelve  miles  farther, 
where  I  stopped  and  watered,  and  then  went  on  twelve  miles  farther  to 
Pittsburgh,  crossed  the  Monongahela  bridge,  turned  to  the  left  off  Smith- 
field  street,  passed  on  into  Wood  Street,  and  went  up  that  street  till  I 
came  to  widow  Sturgeon's  old  noted  tavern  stand,  where  I  put  up  for  the 
night.  I  remained  for  three  days  in  the  city  and  sold  several  small  lots 
of  flour  and  two  large  lots,  one  of  them  being  300  barrels,  to  a  man 
named  Hazlett,  all  of  which  I  sold  at  five  dollars  a  barrel.  I  contracted 
with  a  captain  of  a  keel-boat,  to  run  down  to  the  warehouse  at  the  mouth 
of  Rush  Run,  and  take  in  and  carry  up  to  Pittsburgh  500  barrels  of 
flour,  for  which  I  would  pay  him  delivered  at  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of 
Wood  Street  the  sum  of  3154^  cents  a  barrel.  On  the  morning  of  the 
fourth  day,  after  breakfast  I  paid  my  bill,  which  was  only  one  dollar  a 
day  for  myself  and  horse,  and  mounted  my  noble  young  mare  and 
started  for  home.  She  was  so  spirited  that  I  reached  Steubenville  by 
noon,  and  home  that  evening. 

The  keel-boat  had  already  arrived  and  was  nearly  loaded,  for  the  captain 
had  left  Pittsburgh  the  evening  before,  and  I  contracted  with  him  to  return 
and  take  up  another  load  of  500  barrels.  I  then  returned  to  Pittsburgh 
on  a  second  trip,  this  time  going  round  by  Big  Beaver  and  Brighton,  but 
could  sell  no  flour  at  these  places,  and  I  went  on  round  through  Econ- 
omy, where  I  saw  gangs  of  the  Economites  out  in  their  fields,  both  men 


1829.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  231 

and  women,  cutting  and  binding  barley.  On  a  third  trip  to  Pittsburgh, 
I  sold  flour  at  five  dollars  and  some  at  four  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents, 
and  left  my  agent,  Mr.  Flstep,  in  whose  warehouse  I  had  my  flour  stored, 
to  sell  what  he  could,  while  I  went  up  to  Laurel  Hill  to  visit  my  brother 
David,  and  also  my  brother-in-law  William  Andrews,  living  on  the  old 
Kithcart  homestead  just  under  the  Chestnut  Ridge. 

I  returned  to  Pittsburgh  after  a  few  days,  and  collected  my  money  due 
for  flour,  and  went  up  stairs  to  my  room  to  make  my  money  secure. 

ALARM    ABOUT    ROBBERS. 

I  then  took  a  large  bandanna  handkerchief,  and  laid  all  the  bills  in  it 
in  two  rows  endwise,  and  rolled  them  up  to  the  amount  of  §1,700,  and 
tied  it  round  my  waist. 

That  night  though  it  was  very  warm,  I  slept  with  my  pants  and  vest 
buttoned  on  me,  but  it  so  happened  that  some  time  in  the  night  I  became 
very  much  alarmed,  and  no  wonder,  having  so  much  money  tied  on  my 
body.  I  was  lying  on  my  back  and  sound  asleep,  and  no  bed  cover  on 
me,  the  night  being  very  hot,  when  I  was  waked  up  by  the  fingers  of  two 
hands  of  some  one  pinching  me  with  these  fingers.  This  feeling  with 
the  fingers  before  I  waked  caused  me  to  groan  heavily,  and  my  first 
thought  when  I  was  awake  enough  to  think,  was  that  some  black-leg  had 
come  to  rob  me  ;  but  before  I  had  time  to  speak,  the  man  spoke  very 
soothingly,  saying:  "  Stranger,  don't  be  alarmed;  I  have  lost  the  way  to 
my  room."  I  then  spoke  a  little  excited  and  half  mad  at  the  dunce  for 
losing  his  way,  and  straggling  into  my  room  to  alarm  and  waken  me  out 
of  so  sound  a  sleep.  I  told  him  that  his  room  was  just  across  the  way, 
and  he  passed  over  to  it,  while  I  lay  a^vake  till  my  excitement  ceased, 
and  I  then  fell  asleep  again  and  slept  sound  till  morning.  After  break- 
fast I  paid  my  bill  and  started  for  home  arriving  there  safe.  I  made  a 
fourth  trip  to  Pittsburgh  early  in  August  to  complete  the  selling  of  the 
flour,  and  put  the  price  down  to  four  dollars,  and  had  good  success  in 
selling  at  that  price,  but  when  it  had  all  been  sold  but  1 15  barrels,  it  was 
found  that  some  of  it  was  getting  sour,  and  I  shipped  the  whole  of 
the  115  barrels  back  to  our  mill,  and  there  I  thoroughly  examined  it, 
and  found  forty-five  barrels  of  perfectly  sweet  flour.  The  rest  we  mixed 
with  fresh  bran  and  new  flour  and  bolted   it  over   in   September,  and  as 


232  THE  SHERKARD  FAMILY.  [1829. 

flour  had  now  raised  in  price  to  eight  dollars  a  barrel,  we  sold  this  mixed 
flour  for  six  dollars. 

SALE   OF   RUSH   RUN   MILLS. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1829,  our  old  partner,  William  Wood,  and 
his  son  Joshua,  came  down  from  Smithfield  to  see  about  the  purchase  of 
our  half  of  the  Rush  Run  Mills. 

They  stopped  with  my  brother  John  and  made  known  their  errand  to 
him,  and  he  brought  them  over  the  Run  into  my  yard,  and  called  me 
out,  where  Joshua  made  known  to  me  that  he  wished  to  buy  out  our 
share,  being  the  one-half  of  the  mill-property,  offering  us  for  it  the  sum 
of  ^2000,  and  asking  for  possession  immediately.  If  they  could  not  buy 
us  out,  then  they  would  sell  out  their  half  to  us  for  ;gi8oo;  but  I  ob- 
served that  we  had  not  the  money  and  were  not  able  to  buy  it.  But 
William  Wood  said  he  did  not  wish  the  money,  but  only  our  obligation 
at  six  per  cent,  interest,  and  we  might  take  our  own  time  to  pay  the 
principal.  I  took  my  brother  John  to  one  side,  and  told  him  that  if  he 
would  join  me,  we  would  buy  old  William  Wood  out;  but  John  replied 
that  he  would  not,  for  he  would  rather  sell  to  Joshua  Wood  at  his  offer 
now.  He  further  said  that  old  Robert  Patterson  had  said  that  mill 
property  was  hardly  worth  having,  and  Patterson  said  he  would  sell  out 
if  he  could  get  an  offer.  John  further  observed  that  our  mill  would 
soon  need  a  great  deal  of  repair ;  a  new  roof  was  now  wanting,  a  new 
water-wheel  and  master  cog-wheel,  and  a  new  superfine  bolting-cloth. 
He  thought  that  this  was  the  very  time  for  us  to  sell,  when  we  had  so 
good  an  offer  from  Joshua  Wood.  We  went  back  and  told  him  that  if 
he  would  find  me  employment  till  April  i,  1830,  and  give  us  the  use  of 
the  mill  to  grind  out  our  stock  of  wheat,  we  would  give  him  up  the  mill 
November  14th  coming.  But  Joshua  said  he  must  have  the  house  that  I 
occupied  for  his  family  to  live  in.  John  proposed  that  he  would  take 
Rebecca  Sherrard  and  her  two  boys  in  with  him,  and  I  could  crowd 
into  the  house  we  had  built  for  Rebecca  two  years  before.  But  I  de- 
murred at  the  idea  of  leaving  my  good,  comfortable  house  that  I  had 
been  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  building.  But  to  ease  me  off,  old  William 
Wood  and  brother  John  promised  to  allow  me  something  as  a  compen- 
sation for  leaving  my  own  house ;  but  when  we  made  a  final  settlement, 


1829]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  233 

and  I  mentioned  to  tliem  what  they  had  promised  me  for  my  Iea\-ing 
my  own  house  to  Joshua,  old  WiUiam  said  he  would  give  nothing,  and 
John  said  he  would  do  nothing,  and  so  the  matter  ended. 

And  as  to  William  Wood,  he  had  some  reason  for  this  failure,  for  it 
was  the  first  time  I  ever  knew  him  to  fail  in  his  promise,  for  he  was  a 
man  above  most  of  men,  having  a  first-rate,  sterling  principle ;  and  this 
I  had  reason  to  know  by  being  in  partnership  with  him  for  eighteen  years 
from  the  fall  of  iSii.  It  might  be  that  he  thought  I  had  made  a  good 
winter's  work  of  it,  and  so  I  had. 

And  as  to  my  brother  John,  he  had  the  hardest  part  of  the  bargain, 
having  to  keep  Rebecca  and  her  two  boys  all  winter  and  a  part  of 
the  next  summer,  until  Sarah,  John's  wife,  quarreled  with  Rebecca, 
and  was  the  means  of  her  leaving.  Rebecca  got  Matthew  Tennant's 
loom-shop,  and  set  up  housekeeping  in  it,  and  lived  there  till  November 
15,  1 83 1,  when  I  removed  her  and  her  two  boys  to  my  brother  David's 
house  and  home  in  Fayette  County,  Pa. 

SEEKING   A   NEW   HOME. 

W^e  had  now  sold  our  share  in  the  old  mill  property,  and  I  and 
John  had  to  look  out  for  a  new  home  each. 

I  started  out  to  see  if  I  could  find  a  quarter  section  to  purchase,  and 
was  offered  the  farm  on  which  'Squire  Dawson  then  lived,  and  where 
he  many  years  afterwards  died,  situated  on  the  public  road  leading  from 
La  Grange  to  Smithfield,  and  about  one  and  one  half  miles  east  of  old 
Centre  Church,  containing  150  acres,  at  ;§io  an  acre,  but  I  refused  the 
offer ;  yet  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  Dawson  made  money  and  a  good 
living  on  that  farm  by  industry  and  good  management. 

I  also  had  the  offer  of  160  acres  owned  at  that  time  by  William  Sim- 
eral  in  Cross  Creek  township  adjoining  White's  farm  at  $\o  an  acre. 
Either  of  these  farms  was  worth  all  that  was  asked,  but  I  went  further 
in  seeking,  but  found  none  to  please  me,  and  so  I  rested  easy  for  the 
time  being.  Finally  my  mother-in-law  told  me  to  rest  easy  and  make 
my  arrangements  to  move  on  to  her  farm  in  the  spring  and  farm  it,  and 
take  time  to  look  out  a  farm  to  purchase,  and  I  agreed  to  do  so. 

And  now  that  fall  of  1829  the  time  soon  came  round  for  my  family  to 
move  and  let    the   family  of  Joshua  Wood    move  in,  and  my  family 


234  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1829. 

moved  for  the  winter  on  November  14th  into  the  little  house  that  had 
been  built  for  Rebecca  Sherrard  up  the  Run,  just  across  the  road  from 
the  mill-dam,  and  there  we  remained  till  April  i,  1830. 

The  fall  of  1829  was  an  exceedingly  busy  season  with  myself  and  my 
brother  John,  for  besides  the  extra  work  the  sale  of  the  mill  property 
brought  on  us,  I  had  been  chosen  and  appointed  by  my  old  friend  John 
Jackson,  as  one  of  the  Executors  of  his  will,  and  William  Matthews  the 
other,  he  being  from  Smithfield.  John  Jackson,  who  was  one  of  the  first 
elders  of  Centre  Church,  died  October  24,  1829,  and  during  the  five 
years  previous  William  Matthews  and  myself  had  been  associated  with 
him  as  elders  in  that  church.  During  his  last  illness,  while  I  was  on  a 
visit  to  Mr.  Jackson,  he  asked  me  to  serve  as  one  of  his  Executors,  and 
he  gave  me  his  will  to  keep,  and  after  his  death  I  took  it  to  court  and 
had  it  proved  and  recorded. 

He  was  an  honest  and  good  man,  and  it  was  hard  at  that  day  or  this 
to  find  his  equal  in  every  respect ;  for  twenty  years  before  his  death  Mr. 
Jackson  had  done  much  to  have  the  church  of  Centre  started  and  built 
up,  and  to  have  preaching  there  as  often  as  circumstances  would  admit. 
He  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  about  1820,  but  he  held  it  only  a 
short  time  till  he  resigned,  as  he  would  not  be  bothered  with  the  office, 
but  he  accepted  and  held  the  office  of  County  Commissioner  for  the 
space  of  twenty  years,  but  was  obliged  to  decline  serving  at  last.  Dur- 
ing the  many  years  that  he  was  Commissioner  of  Jefferson  County  he 
showed  his  kindness  to  me  by  having  me  appointed  by  their  Board  to 
go  at  least  once  a  year,  and  some  years  oftener,  with  two  others  as  the 
law  directed,  and  view,  lay  out,  or  alter  roads,  as  at  that  earlj'  day  there 
was  a  great  want  of  many  new  roads  to  be  laid  out  in  different  parts  of 
the  country. 

It  was  during  the  following  January  of  1830  that  my  wife's  mother,  Mrs. 
Hindman,  came  over  on  a  visit  to  see  us  at  Rush  Run,  and  while  with 
us  her  cousin,  the  Rev.  Richard  Campbell,  pastor  of  the  Three  Springs 
Presbyterian  Church  above  HoUiday's  Cove,  Va.,  came  over  on  a  visit, 
bringing  Mr.  John  Orr  along.  Finding  that  his  cousin  was  not  at  home 
they  came  on  over  to  our  house,  and  there  Mr.  Orr  first  met  Mrs.  Hind- 
man,  which  resulted  in  their  marriage  April  15,  1830. 

At  length  the  time  was   drawing   near  for  the  removal   of  my  family 


1830.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  235 

from  Rush  Run  to  Pleasant  Hill,  and  about  the  middle  of  March  I  took 
my  wife  over  to  her  mother's,  and  I  returned  to  the  mill  to  assist  the 
colored  man,  John  Caterden,  to  attend  the  mill. 

One  week  later  I  returned  to  mother  Hindman's  to  see  how  they 
were  all  getting  along,  and  well  I  did,  for  the  next  morning  I  had  to 
go  to  Smithfield  and  bring  Dr.  William  Wood,  and  in  due  time  I  had  a 
young  son  born  to  me  March  24,  1830.  This  son  was  named  John 
Hindman,  after  his  mother's  father,  John  Hindman  deceased.  I  returned 
to  the  mill  the  next  day,  but  by  Saturday  evening  I  came  back  to  Pleas- 
ant Hill  to  see  how  my  wife  and  young  son  were  getting  along. 


SECTION    XIII. 

1830-1833. 
LIFE  AT  PLEASANT  HILL- 

THE  1st  of  April,  1830,  arrived,  and  all  was  bustle  and  stir  in  and 
about  our  house,  packing  up  and  preparing  to  be  off  to  our  new 
home  over  at  Pleasant  Hill,  six  miles  away,  and  with  the  remain- 
der of  my  family  and  movables  we  arrived  safe  at  the  house  of  mother- 
in-law. 

I  had  spent  eighteen  years  and  three  and  a  half  months  at  Rush  Run, 
and  in  these  long  years  I  had  seen  many  a  hard  day's  work  done  in  and 
out  of  the  mill ;  and  now  when  I  had  got  away  from  the  turmoil  and 
care  and  anxiety  of  a  public  life,  I  became  more  contented  and  happy 
on  Pleasant  Hill  farm  and  my  new  home  than  I  had  ever  been  in  any 
other  place  or  home  in  my  life. 

In  a  few  days  after  moving  I  went  back  to  Rush  Run  and  settled 
with  Joshua  Wood  for  all  that  was  coming  to  me  for  my  work  during 
the  winter. 

The  next  event,  only  two  weeks  after   our   moving,  was   the  marriage 


2.36  THE  SHERRARD  EAaMILY.  [1830. 

of  mother-in-law  to  Mr.  Orr,  and  she  then  left  us  the  next  day  for  her 
new  home  over  in  the  Cove. 

During  the  summer  of  1830  I  made  a  final  settlement  with  old  Wil- 
liam Wood,  who  had  been  our  partner  for  eighteen  years  in  the  mil). 
He  was  a  model  Quaker  of  sterling,  honest  principle.  I  also  settled 
all  old  standing  accounts  with  my  brother  John,  some  of  which  had  been 
standing  unsettled  for  several  years.  My  brother  John  continued  his 
residence  at  the  old  mill  for  the  present  year. 

It  was  during  this  summer  that  I  brought  my  mother  up  from  John's 
at  Rush  Run  on  a  visit  to  see  my  family. 

She  had  a  strong  desire  to  see  her  grandson  John,  and  also  all  the 
other  older  grandchildren.  My  mother  staid  with  us  for  several  weeks, 
and  during  this  stay  she  expressed  her  desire  to  come  and  make  her 
home  with  us,  but  as  my  brother  John  had  her  money  in  his  hands,  and 
that  had  always  been  her  home,  and  as  I  and  my  wife  knew  that  it 
would  not  be  long  till  mother  would  tire  with  the  noise  and  prattle  of 
seven  children,  we  thought  it  best  not  to  encourage  her  desire  to  live 
with  us. 

And  as  mother  had  expressed  a  desire  to  go  up  to  Fayette  County 
to  visit  her  son  David,  I  wrote  to  him  to  that  effect  that  she  wished  to 
visit  him  and  her  old  brother,  David  Cathcart,  and  he  did  come  down 
v/ith  his  carriage  in  September  and  took  mother  up  to  his  house,  where 
she  remained  till  her  death,  in  1833. 

My  brother  David,  while  he  was  down,  made  arrangements  with 
Rebecca  Sherrard,  widow  of  my  deceased  brother  Thomas  for  her  with 
her  two  sons  to  move  up  to  his  farm,  and  he  would  build  her  a  small 
and  neat  house  not  far  from  his  own  house,  so  that  he  might  have  the 
opportunity  of  helping  her  to  raise,  support  and  school  her  boys,  and 
that  they  might  have  the  opportunity  of  learning  to  work,  so  that  they 
could  make  a  living  as  they  passed  on  through  the  world. 

About  the  ist  of  September,  1830,  I  took  a  trip  out  to  Fremont  and 
made  a  final  settlement  with  Col.  Chambers,  who  was  joint  administrator 
with  me  in  settling  up  the  estate  of  my  deceased  brother  Thomas,  and  I 
had  found  him  a  very  efficient  partner  in  the  business  from  first  to  last. 
Returning  on  my  homeward  way  I  stopped  at  Coshocton  to  see  John- 
son, the  clerk  of  the   Court,  with  whom  I   had  left  the  land  warrant  for 


1830.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  237 

I oo  acres  of  military  land  the  December  of  1825.  I  found  that  he  was 
dead,  and  that  he  had  never  located  the  land  in  Coshocton  County. 
His  widow  returned  to  me  the  warrant,  and  demanded  of  me  $\  for  her 
husband's  trouble,  which  I  cheerfully  paid,  and  I  then  left  Coshocton 
and  came  on  to  Cambridge  in  Guernsey  County,  where  I  staid  all  night. 
From  there  I  went  out  seven  miles  west  where  my  farm  was  located 
that  I  had  purchased  in  April,  18 16,  with  the  money  received  from  my 
first  wife  shortly  after  we  were  married.  I  had  a  tenant  on  the  land  by 
the  name  of  Tulk,  but  I  found  that  he  was  doing  but  little  good  for 
himself,  and  far  less  for  me,  and  in  order  that  I  might  find  better  use 
for  my  money  vested  in  said  land,  I  left  word  that  I  would  sell  it  at 
;^500,  and  very  low  at  that  for  one  hundred  and  si.xty  acres,  with  fifteen 
acres  cleared  and  fenced. 

On  my  homeward  way,  near  Cambridge,  I  overtook  a  young  man 
riding  a  young  horse  of  three  years  of  age,  and  as  I  was  on  the 
lookout  for  a  good  work  horse,  I  bought  this  one  from  the  young 
man  for  ;^6o,  and  brought  him  home  with  me.  And  I  would  here  re- 
mark that  this  horse  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  gentle  and  serviceable 
that  I  ever  owned ;  except  Tom  horse  that  I  now  have,  and  which  I 
raised  from  my  own  stock  of  horses.  Tom  horse  is  descended  on  the 
mother's  side  from  the  stock  known  forty  or  fifty  years  ago  as  the 
"  Marquis  of  Granby,"  and  on  the  sire's  side  as  the  "  Defiance,"  and  a 
better  breed  of  horses  I  never  owned.  That  horse  that  I  bought  at 
Cambridge  lived  to  be  twenty-nine  or  thirty  years  old,  and  his  name 
was  "  Fox."  I  had  not  been  long  at  home  till  a  man  named  John  Bur- 
ress,  from  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been  out  near  Cambridge  and  had 
seen  my  farm  there  and  had  heard  that  it  was  for  sale,  called  to  see  me, 
and  purchased  it  on  the  conditions  of  ^400  cash  in  hand,  and  the  bal- 
ance on  interest  till  paid. 

My  aim  was  to  sell  this  land,  and  also  the  quarter  section  out  on  Sugar 
Creek,  in  Wayne  County,  and  also  the  farm  of  eighty-two  acres  on  which  we 
were  now  living,  that  formerly  belonged  to  John  Hindman,  deceased,  as 
I  had  lately  purchased  the  interest  of  Betsy  Hindman  and  her  mother  in 
this  farm,  and  with  the  cash  thus  realized  purchase  a  larger  farm. 


238  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1830. 


THAT   LAND  WARRANT   AGAIN. 

Some  time  after  my  return  from  Cambridge,  having  received  from  the 
widow  of  Johnson  the  Land  Warrant  that  belonged  to  the  estate  of  my 
deceased  brother  Thomas,  which  he  had  got  from  one  John  McClain 
down  the  Mississippi  in  1818,  and  not  knowing  how  or  where  now  to 
find  military  land  to  lay  it  on,  and  as  I  had  been  offered  in  Cambridge, 
in  June,  1825,  by  a  land  speculator  named  Beatty  $40  for  it,  I  concluded 
that  as  administrator  of  my  brother's  estate,  I  would  sell  it  as  personal 
property. 

Under  that  impression  I  offered  it  to  old  Jack  Lockard,  who  then  lived 
on  the  next  farm,  for  ;^50,  but  he  was  not  willing  to  close  the  bargain 
until  he  would  send  the  number  and  date  of  it  to  Humphrey  H.  Leavitt, 
who  was  then  in  Congress,  to  see  if  it  was  good.  Judge  Leavitt  wrote 
back  to  Lockard  that  it  was  a  good  warrant,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
wrote  to  me  not  to  sell  the  warrant,  but  send  it  to  him,  and  he  would 
exchange  it  for  scrip  that  would  be  worth  ^125.  According  to  Judge 
Leavitt's  advice  I  sent  the  warrant  to  him,  and  he  returned  me  the  scrip, 
which  I  kept  safe  till  the  two  heirs  became  of  full  age,  at  which  time  they 
signed  the  scrip  over  to  me  to  cancel  in  part  a  debt  due  to  me  from  the 
estate  of  my  brother  Thomas.  However,  some  time  after  I  had  received 
the  scrip  I  took  it  with  me  to  Steubenville  and  showed  it  to  Lawyer 
Stokely,  and  asked  him  if  I  could  sell  it  as  personal  property  belonging 
to  the  heirs  of  my  deceased  brother  Thomas,  and  he  said  that  I  could 
not,  because  it  had  certainly  something  of  realty  about  it,  and  he  advised 
me  to  place  the  scrip  in  the  hands  of  my  brother  David,  as  he  was  the 
guardian  of  the  minor  heirs,  and  suggested  that  the  guardian  should  pe- 
tition the  Orphans'  Court  at  Uniontown,  and  the  Court  would  order  him 
to  sell  it  to  me,  and  my  claim  would  thereby  in  part  be  paid. 

This  I  did,  and  the  guardian  took  advice  of  a  lawyer  in  Uniontown 
named  Piper,  and  he  said  at  once  that  the  Court  would  not  listen  to  such 
a  thing,  unless  the  guardian  could  make  it  appear  that  the  scrip  must  be 
sold  to  pay  for  clothing  or  support  of  these  minor  heirs.  And  this  ad- 
vice put  a  quietus  on  any  further  proceedings  about  the  sale  of  said 
scrip.      I    finally  sold  the    scrip  to  my  son   Robert  for  ^100,  it  being 


1830.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  239 

worth  on    its    face  $\2i,,  and    it  did    purchase  for  him     lOO    acres    of 
good  land  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Missouri. 

A   CHURCH    LAWSUIT. 

During  the  fall  of  1830  I  had  a  lawsuit  before  'Squire  Dawson  with 
Joshua  Carroll.  This  suit  arose  from  the  stubbornness  of  Joshua  Car- 
roll in  refusing  to  pay  his  subscription  to  support  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  at  old  Centre  Church.  Joshua,  when  a  young  and  single  man,  tried 
to  cut  a  wide  swath.  He  was  very  outsetting,  and  wished  to  be  noticed  by 
young  females,  as  it  was  his  intention  some  day  to  take  one  home  for  a 
housekeeper.  And  when  the  subscription  paper  was  passed  around  at 
old  Centre  meeting-house,  the  fall  of  1 821,  to  raise  funds  to  support 
the  Rev.  Jacob  Cozard  for  half  his  time  at  Centre,  Joshua  Carroll  was 
up  as  high  as  several  other  subscribing  members. 

He  put  down  $4  to  be  paid  yearly,  and  Joshua  did  pay  up  his 
subscription  for  the  first  year,  but  paid  no  more  till  I,  as  Treasurer 
of  the  church  compelled  him  by  bringing  suit  before  'Squire  Dawson. 
The  Carroll  family  all  left  Centre  Church  the  fall  of  1826,  and  in 
defending  the  suit  I  claimed  no  more  than  for  the  time  the  family 
attended.  Joshua  made  a  lame  defense,  but  it  was  a  plain  case,  and 
the  'Squire  gave  judgment  for  the  full  amount  of  my  claim  of  ^16  as 
agent  of  the  congregation. 

Joshua  Carroll  was  the  only  subscriber  that  I  sued,  although  a  number 
of  others  deserved  suing,  for  those  who  willmgly  paid  up  their  own  lia- 
bilities had  to  make  up  for  the  delinquencies  of  others ;  and  so  it  is  in 
almost  all  Presbyterian  congregations. 

THE    PURCHASE   OF   PLEASANT   HILL. 

Among  other  transactions  I  performed  the  summer  of  1830,  1  pur- 
chased mother  Hindman's  right  of  dower  in  the  Pleasant  Hill  farm, 
situate  on  a  branch  of  Mclntyre's  fork  of  Cross  Creek,  called  Slab  Camp. 
It  got  its  name  from  the  circumstance  that  some  old  hunters  in  very 
early  times  made  it  a  point  to  come  over  in  the  fall  season,  when  the 
Indians  were  peaceable,  and  hunt;  and  for  a  shelter  by  night,  or  when  it 
rained,  they  split  puncheons  and  split  slabs,  and  built  a  hut  and  covered 
it,  and  that  gave  the  name   of  "  Slab  Camp  "  to  the   small  creek   or  run 


240  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1830. 

that  formed  a  part  of  Mclntyre  stream,  and  this  camp  was  occupied  by 
deer  hunters  from  across  the  Ohio  River  for  many  years. 

When  I  purchased  mother  Hindman  Orr's  right  of  dower  in  the 
eighty-two  acre  farm  on  Pleasant  Hill,  section  25,  township  6,  range  2, 
Cross  Creek  township,  Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  for  ^155,  together  with 
her  share  of  eight  acres  of  wheat  in  the  ground,  I  paid  that  sum  into  the 
hand  of  her  husband,  John  Orr,  and  took  of  them  a  quitclaim. 

I  next  purchased  the  right  in  the  said  eighty-two  acres  of  land  of 
Betsy  Hindman,  sister  to  my  wife,  Jane  Hindman,  for  the  sum  of  $450, 
for  which  I  gave  her  my  notes  with  six  per  cent,  interest,  adding  into 
these  notes  what  would  be  Betsy's  share  of  the  grain  in  the  ground,  and 
had  a  deed  of  her  undivided  share  of  the  one-half  of  the  eighty-two 
acres. 

And  now  I  had  a  snug  little  farm  and  a  home  of  my  own  without  any 
let  or  hindrance,  with  which  I  could  do  as  I  pleased.  I  would  here  re- 
mark how  I  came  at  the  worth  of  mother  Hindman  Orr's  right  of  dower 
in  the  farm ;  I  asked  mother-in-law  how  much  the  eighty-two  acres 
would  rent  for  a  year,  and  she  replied  that  it  would  rent  for  ;^40  a  year. 
I  then  said  that  her  share  of  the  $d,o  a  year  would  be  ^(3.33.  She  was 
at  the  time  fifty-two  years  old,  and  her  husband,  Mr.  Orr,  was  sixty- 
six  years  old.  How  long,  then,  would  she  live  to  enjoy  the  rent  of  the 
eighty-two  acre  farm  ? 

Well,  seeing  that  the  life  of  man  is  set  at  seventy  years,  I  said  that  she 
might  live  to  seventy  years,  or  she  might  die  to-morrow,  as  life  is  very 
uncertain.  In  justice,  then,  take  the  one-half  between  fifty-two  and 
seventy,  which  is  nine  years. 

The  amount  of  rent  then  coming  to  her  for  nine  yeai^s  would  be  nine 
times  ^13.33,  or  $120,  leaving  an  allowance  of  ,^35  for  her  share  of  wheat 
in  the  ground.  And  the  calculation  came  out  right,  for  it  so  happened 
and  it  was  so  ordered  that  mother  Orr  did  not  live  quite  the  nine  years 
out,  for  this  transaction  was  about  the  first  of  May,  1830,  and  she 
died  February  4,  1839. 

DRAWING   A    WILL. 

Some  time  in  the  course  of  the  year  1830  I  was  called  upon  to  go  and 
draw  the  will  of  old  William  McClelland,  which  I  did.     This  will  I  kept 


1830.]  FAMILY  HISTURV.  241 

no  copy  of,  but  recollect  that  as  the  testator  had  but  one  son,  a  lawful 
heir,  the  farm  and  all  the  personal  property  was  left  to  that  son,  and  to 
his  son's  lawful  heirs  forever;  and  it  might  be  construed  that  this  will 
entailed  the  real  estate. 

I  added  in  the  will  that  the  old  man's  son  and  only  heir  should  have 
libert}^  at  any  time  he  saw  proper  to  sell  and  to  convey  the  same  for  his 
benefit  and  the  benefit  of  his  children.  And  notwithstanding  this  turn- 
ing clause  was  put  in,  yet  it  was  afterwards  construed  to  be  a  will  giving 
an  entailment  of  the  real  property  to  the  old  man's  grandchildren,  which 
was  not  the  case. 

Some  years  after  the  old  man's  death,  a  certain  Peter  Runyon  con- 
tracted with  young  William  McClelland  for  the  farm,  but  on  his  becom- 
ing alarmed  about  the  possibility  of  an  entailment,  he  secured  a  copy  of 
this  clause  of  the  will  and  sent  it  out  to  Cadiz,  and  had  Josiah  Scott,  a 
prominent,  honest  and  reliable  lawyer,  to  e.xamine  it,  and  his  advice  to 
Runyon  was  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  for  there  certainly  was  an 
entailment  in  said  will. 

So  Peter  went  back  on  his  contract.  However,  the  sequel  will  show 
the  difference  in  the  opinion  of  two  good  lawyers,  for  not  long  after 
this  old  Finley  McGrew  purchased  the  same  farm  of  young  William 
McClelland,  not  having  the  fear  of  an  entailment  before  his  eyes,  and  he 
deeded  his  farm  to  his  son,  James  McGrew.  Some  few  years  after  that, 
James  McGrew  and  Harlem  Ong,  son  of  Finley,  took  it  into  their  heads 
to  swap  farms,  and  then,  not  long  after,  young  Harlem  Ong  heard  of  the 
entailment,  and  began  to  fear  its  possible  consequences,  and  wanted  James 
McGrew  to  rue  baigain,  which  he  refused  to  do.  But  McGrew  proposed 
to  young  Ong  to  come  to  me,  and  I  went  with  them  to  town,  and  there 
I  met  with  old  Finley  McGrew  and  old  Finley  Ong.  ■  The  latter  imme- 
diately asked  me  if  I  was  afraid  of  an  entailment  on  that  farm,  and  I  told 
him  I  was  not.  He  then  asked  me  if  I  would  be  willing  to  swap  my 
farm  for  it,  and  I  said  I  would  provided  I  got  boot  enough.  We  then 
went  to  the  Clerk's  office  and  examined  the  will,  and  I  explained  to 
them,  that  fearing  I  was  going  to  make  an  entailment,  I  changed  the  run 
of  the  will  by  the  testator  giving  his  son  liberty  at  any  time  he  thought 
proper  to  sell  the  farm  for  his  benefit  and  the  benefit  of  his  heirs.  But 
all  that  I  said  did  not  satisfy  young  Ong,  but  he  asked  me  to  go  into  the 
i6 


242  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1830. 

Court  House,  for  the  Court  was  in  session  at  the  time,  and  bring  into  the 
Clerk's  office  Lawyer  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  who  is  now,  June  22,  1865, 
Secretary  of  War.  I  did  so,  and  Stanton  asked  leave  of  the  Court  for 
absence  for  a  few  moments,  and  on  examination  of  the  record  of  the  will, 
he  told  those  present  there  was  no  entailment  there,  and  then  turning  to 
me  he  remarked  that  that  was  just  such  a  will  as  he  himself  would  have 
drawn,  and  I  replied  that  I  had  drawn  that  will. 

A  lawyer's  fee. 

Harlem  Ong  then  asked  Stanton  what  his  charge  was,  and  Stanton 
replied  :  "  Five  dollars.''  Young  Ong  paid  him  the  five  dollars  for  about 
five  minutes'  service,  and  Stanton  went  back  to  the  court  room.  Soon 
after  that  I  said  I  must  go  home,  and  I  was  asked  my  charge,  and  I  said : 
"  Half-a-dollar,"  which  Ong  paid  me  in  silver,  and  I  was  home  by  noon, 
well  content  that  I  had  made  fifty  cents  in  three  hours.  But  I  could 
but  reflect  how  great  a  difference  there  was  between  a  lawyer's  and  a 
farmer's  conscience  ;  the  lawyer  must  have  five  dollars  for  his  advice  and 
five  minutes'  service,  while  the  other  loses  three  hours  and  gives  his 
opinion  for  fifty  cents. 

But  all  this  trouble  and  expense  did  not  satisfy  Harlem  Ong.  He 
had  got  entailment  on  the  brain  so  strongly  fixed  that  he  did  not  believe 
either  lawyer  Stanton  or  me,  but  afterwards  teazed  James  McGrew  for  a 
rue  bargain  ;  and  at  length  McGrew  told  Ong  he  would  rue  bargain,  and 
deed  back  Ong's  old  farm  to  him  if  he  would  give  him  ^500,  which  Ong 
gave  him,  and  James  IVIcGrew  still  to  this  day  occupies  that  old  "  en- 
tailed "  McClelland  farm. 

I  have  written  this  much  to  show  that  part  of  my  history  lay  mixed 
up  in  this  entailment.  This  year  1830  was  a  busy  year  with  me,  and  I 
do  not  recollect  that  I  ever  went  through  so  many  varied  scenes  in  any 
year  of  my  life  either  before  or  since. 

A   VISIT  TO   FAYETTE   COUNTY. 

When  my  brother  David  was  down  the  fall  of  1830  and  took  our 
mother  home  with  him,  he  made  arrangements  with  our  sister-in-law 
Rebecca  to  come  up  to  Fayette  County,  and  he  would  build  her  a  house 
on  his  farm  where  she  and  her  two  boys  could  live.     Accordingly,  he 


1831.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  243 

wrote  to  me  tlie  fall  of  1831  that  as  I  and  my  wife  were  expecting  that 
fall  to  come  up  on  a  visit  to  his  house  and  the  friends  in  that  county,  if 
I  would  bring  Rebecca  and  her  boys  along,  he  would  pay  the  expenses 
of  their  trip. 

I  then  made  all  the  arrangements,  and  took  my  own  dearborn  wagon, 
in  which  I  and  my  wife  and  Rebecca  rode,  and  I  borrowed  my  brother 
John's  wagon  and  two  horses,  and  hired  Alexander  Lockard  to  drive 
this  team,  with  which  he  took  the  boys  and  the  household  goods  that 
Rebecca  had  to  move.  We  started  on  the  morning  of  November  15, 
1831,  and  we  occupied  three  days  and  two  nights  making  the  journe\'> 
when  we  arrived  at  my  brother  David's,  and  saw  my  mother  and  old 
Uncle  David  Cathcart,  all  glad  to  see  us.  After  visiting  the  relatives  of 
my  first  wife,  William  Andrews,  Joseph  Cunningham  and  John  Sloanaker, 
for  several  days,  I  and  my  wife  came  over  into  Washington  County,  and 
in  the  town  of  Washington  we  staid  two  nights  with  my  wife  Jane's 
uncle  Robert  Hindman.  We  next  went  over  to  Richard  Hindman's, 
and  staid  all  night,  and  then  to  my  wife's  great-aunt,  Mrs.  William 
Campbell,  who  was  Elizabeth  Johnston,  where  we  staid  all  night. 

And  last  we  went  over  to  old  Richard  Johnston's,  the  father  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Johnson,  of  Steubenville.  We  found  young  Richard  Johnson, 
son  of  old  Richard,  lying  low  in  consumption,  contracted  by  getting  up 
in  the  middle  of  the  cold  nights  of  winter  to  care  for  the  young  Iambs  of 
his  father's  flock  of  sheep,  and  he  lived  only  a  month  or  two  after  we 
saw  him.  From  this  point  near  Canonsburg  we  returned  home  through 
Hickory,  Burgettstown,  Florence  and  Paris,  and  the  Cove,  where  we 
stopped  one  night  at  old  Father  Orr's,  and  on  home  through  Steuben- 
ville, where  we  found  Betsy  Hindman,  whom  we  had  left  as  caretaker  of 
our  family  of  six  children,  viz. :  Mary  Ann,  Joseph,  David,  Elizabeth, 
Nancy  and  John;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  son  Robert  was  still 
with  his  grandmother  Kithcart  in  Mount  Pleasant.  We  had  now  been 
absent  from  home  for  a  little  over  three  weeks. 

GREAT   FLOOD    OF    1 83 2. 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  February,  1832,  the  great  flood  in  the  Ohio 
River  came  on,  known  as  the  greatest  flood  in  that  river  for  sixty  years  ; 
nor  has  there  been  any  as  great  from  that  time  to  this,  although  thirty- 


244  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1832. 

eight  years  have  rolled  round  since  that  flood.  The  flood  in  the  Ohio 
River  of  April  20,  1852,  was  up  near  the  old  mark  of  1832,  or  within 
one  or  two  feet  of  it. 

On  March  22,  1832,  a  little  daughter  was  born  to  us,  and  in  kindness 
to  her  mother  we  called  her  name  Jane. 

She  is  now  (July  4th,  1865)  as  large  as  she  will  ever  be,  and  by  this 
time  she  has  been  taught  to  be  useful  in  life.  At  the  sale  of  the  land  on 
Sugar  Creek,  Wayne  County,  Ohio,  belonging  to  the  heirs  of  the  Kith- 
cart  estate,  it  will  be  remembered  that  I  purchased  a  quarter  section, 
and  this  I  sold  to  one  Daniel  Foulk,  February  26,  1831,  for  the  sum  of 
gSoo, — g20O  cash  in  hand,  and  the  balance  in  annual  payments  of  $200, 
with  interest,  April  1st  each  year,  until  paid.  However,  Foulk  paid  it 
all  up  March  19,  1832,  and  I  and  my  wife  made  him  a  good  deed  of 
that  date,  and  that  was  the  end  of  my  interest  in  the  Sugar  Creek  land. 

SIG.A.R   HILL    F.\RM    PURCH.A.SED. 

John  Scott,  who  learned  the  milling  business  with  me  at  Rush 
Run,  had  rented  the  Wells  Mill,  near  Steubenville,  the  spring  of  1832, 
and  this  had  the  effect  of  bringing  about  a  change  in  my  affairs  and  of 
my  family  in  many  particulars.  It  so  happened  that  on  September  30, 
1832,  I  came  up  to  Steubenville  on  some  business,  and  as  usual  called 
down  at  the  mill  to  see  how  John  Scott  and  his  family  were  getting 
along.  While  there  he  said  to  me :  "  You  have  said  to  me  that  you 
would  like  to  buy  a  farm  near  Steubenville,  and  now  is  your  chance. 
For  James  McWhaw  and  sons,  who  purchased  a  large  farm  from  old 
James  Ross  on  the  hill,  on  what  is  called  '  Sugar  Hill  Farm,'  have 
divided  the  farm  into  three  parts,  and  are  going  to  sell  each  of  the  three 
divisions  to  the  highest  bidder  on  to-morrow,  and  now  is  your  chance 
to  buy  one  of  these  farms,  and  you  had  better  stay  with  us  to-night  and 
go  up  to  the  sale  to-morrow."  I  took  Scott  at  his  word,  and  staid  with 
him  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  I  went  up  to  Sugar  Hill  Farm.  It 
was  not  long  until  the  sale  opened  up  by  offering  tract  No.  i,  lying 
northeast,  containing  145  acres.  William  McDonald,  of  Steubenville, 
was  the  only  bidder  for  that  farm,  and  it  was  sold  to  him  at  $15  an  acre. 
Tract  No.  2,  lying  north  of  the  one  that  I  bought,  containing  132  acres, 
was  sold  to  old  Tom  Williams  at  $20.50  an  acre.     But   I    rued   it  sadly 


1833]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  245 

that  I  did  not  run  it  up  a  little  higher  and  outbid  Williams,  but  I  wanted 
the  largest  farm  of  the  three,  which  had  the  dwelling-house  and  barn 
and  two  large  sheep  sheds,  and  the  old  apple  orchard,  which  was  at 
that  time  well  loaded  with  apples.  I  was  fearful  of  going  too  deep  in 
debt  for  land  at  the  time,  nor  did  I  think  of  the  three  quarter  sections 
of  land  I  owned  and  paid  for, — two  of  them  at  Sandusky  and  the  other 
on  Sugar  Creek,  lately  sold  to  Daniel  Foulk.  But  if  I  had  bought  that 
tract  that  Tom  Williams  got,  and  then  bid  off  the  farm  we  now  live  on, 
I  would  have  just  hit  it,  for  we  could  have  paid  for  it  in  four  years  off 
its  own  soil. 

But  to  return  to  the  sale;  when  tract  No.  3  was  put  up  I  bid  for  it  in 
the  house,  and  old  Joseph  Robinson  bid  for  it  out  on  the  porch,  and  we 
ran  it  up  one  dollar  at  a  time  ;  then  fifty  cents  at  a  time,  till  it  reached 
$2\  an  acre.  Then  I  bid  twelve  and  a  half  cents  more,  and  Robinson 
bid  thirteen  cents ;  I  bid  fourteen  and  he  fifteen,  and  I  bid  sixteen,  and  it 
was  knocked  off  to  me  at  $21.16  an  acre.  The  conditions  of  the  sales 
were  that  the  purchaser  of  these  farms  must  pay  $200  down,  and  April 
I,  1833,  must  pay  down  $1000,  at  which  time  McWhaw  was  to  make  a 
deed,  and  the  purchasers  were  to  have  eight  annual  payments  with 
interest.  In  my  tract  there  were  150  acres,  more  or  less.  After  the 
sale  I  returned  to  the  house  of  John  Scott,  and  received  from  him  g200 
that  I  had  loaned  to  him,  and  the  next  day  I  returned  to  McWhaw's 
and  paid  him  down  the  §200,  and  articled  with  him  to  pay  $1000  April 
1st  next.  However,  when  April  i,  1833,  came,  and  I  went  into  Steu- 
benville  to  meet  McWhaw,  it  was  found  that  old  James  Ross  was  not 
willing  to  release  McWhaw  from  the  mortgage  he  held  for  the  whole 
undivided  tract,  and  take  a  mortgage  on  each  of  us  three  purchasers 
individually,  and  allow  us  eight  annual  payments.  But  Ross  was  willing 
to  give  us  four  years  and  take  a  mortgage  on  us  separately,  and  release 
McWhaw  from  his  mortgage  so  that  McWhaw  could  make  us  our  deeds. 
At  length  this  was  agreed  to  by  all  the  parties,  and  I  paid  down  my 
$1000  and  received  my  deed,  and  the  rest  was  paid  in  yearly  payments 
at  the  Mechanics'  Bank  of  Steubenville,  with  si.x  per  cent,  interest  on 
each  payment. 

After  the  purchase  of  the  farm,  October  2,  1832,  I  had  no  opportunity 
of  examining  the  premises  particularly,  but  returned   home,  and   as  I 


246  THE  SHERRARn  FAM/LV.  [1833. 

went  homeward  I  felt  sad,  not  knowing  whether  my  purchase  was  good 
or  not.  But  just  one  week  afterwards  I  returned  to  the  new  farm  and 
brought  my  wife  along,  and  we  took  a  view  of  the  whole  farm,  and  after 
this  view  I  became  better  satisfied  with  my  purchase.  Shortly  after  the 
20th  of  October  I  went  to  my  newly  purchased  farm,  taking  David  and 
two  work  horses  along,  and  we  took  in  the  little  dearborn  wagon  provi- 
sions to  last  us  from  Monday  till  Saturday.  My  object  was  first  to  cut 
logs  to  build  a  work-shop,  and  then  to  prepare  three  acres  below  the 
barn  for  meadow,  for  there  was  not  one  foot  of  meadow  on  this  farm  at 
that  time. 

Nor  was  there  a  fruit  tree  of  any  kind  except  the  apple  orchard,  which 
was  all  of  natural  fruit,  except  four  trees  of  the  Gate  variety  and  a  few 
other  grafted  trees.  I  went  to  the  nursery  of  Samuel  Wood  and  bought 
of  him  thirty  choice  grafted  apple  trees  and  planted  them  out ;  also  two 
cherry  trees,  a  May  Duke  and  a  Marmaduke ;  also  five  choice  plum 
trees,  a  number  of  black  and  red  Morello  cherry  trees,  and  three  Black 
Heart  cherry  trees,  so  that  in  a  few  years  we  had  plenty  of  different 
kinds  of  fruits.  One  evening,  while  David  was  with  me  over  at  the  new 
farm,  we  went  down  and  spent  the  night  at  John  Scott's,  and  a  little 
girl  there,  who  was  employed  by  Mrs.  Scott,  had  the  measles,  and  it 
was  just  at  the  stage  of  the  disease  when  it  was  contagious.  David 
caught  the  infection  and  carried  it  home  to  the  family  at  Pleasant  Hill, 
and  in  due  time  seven  of  the  eight  children  were  down  with  the  measles 
at  one  time,  but  Jane,  the  baby,  did  not  take  them,  although  exposed 
to  them  every  day,  and  she  never  did  have  the  measles  all  her  life. 

Near  the  last  of  January,  1833,  I  advertised  the  Pleasant  Hill  farm 
for  sale,  and  on  February  nth  I  sold  it  to  Robert  Brown  for  the  sum 
of  $1050,  one-third  to  be  paid  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  March  ne.xt, 
and  the  balance  in  eight  equal  annual  payments  of  $87.50  each,  with 
interest. 


1833.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  247 

SECTION     XI  \". 

1833-1845- 

SUGAR   HII.I.    FARM. 

ON  April  I,  1833,  I  and  all  the  family  bade  adieu  to  Pleasant  Hill, 
where  my  wife,  Jane  Hindman,  was  brought  up  from  the  time 
she  was  six  years  old,  where  she  and  I  were  married,  and  where 
I,  in  the  bosom  of  my  interesting  family,  spent  three  of  the  most  happy 
years  of  my  long  life,  and  it  is  a  pity  that  I  and  others  cannot  at  all 
times  enjoy  life  as  I  did  during  those  three  years  after  we  had  left  Rush 
Run  and  were  settled  on  the  farm  at  Pleasant  Hill. 

My  wife's  sister,  Betsy  Hindman,  had  come  over  from  the  Cove, 
where  she  had  her  home  with  her  mother,  Mrs.  Orr,  and  helped  us 
move.  I  and  my  wife  and  Betsy  rode  on  horseback,  and  carried  the 
three  younger  children;  I  carried  Nancy  before  me,  Betsy  carried  John, 
and  my  wife  carried  Jane,  the  baby,  while  the  other  children  walked  and 
drove  the  cattle,  as  the  distance  was  about  ten  miles. 

We  arrived  at  our  new  home  before  noon,  and  as  soon  as  I  had  my 
dinner,  I  left  the  two  hired  men,  William  Meldrum  and  Robert  Hutche- 
son,  to  put  up  bedsteads  and  dispose  of  the  household  goods  as  my 
wife  might  direct,  while  I  was  off  to  town  to  meet  McWhaw  and  settle 
about  the  payments  on  the  farm. 

OUR    NEIGHBORS   AT   SUGAR   HILL. 

At  this  point  it  is  proper  to  mention  something  about  the  neighbors 
by  whom  we  found  ourselves  surrounded  when  we  moved  to  this  new 
home,  the  spring  of  1833. 

This  Sugar  Hill  Farm  lies  on  the  high  ridge  of  land  two  miles  south- 
west from  Steubenville,  and  the  house  was  situated  in  the  middle  of 
the  farm  east  and  west,  but  not  more  than  twenty  rods  from  the  northern 
line  of  the  farm,  and  on  the  very  dividing  ridge  where  the  water  at  the 
house  would  flow  to  the  east  toward  the  Ohio  River,  or  to  the  west 


248  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1833. 

toward  Cross  Creek,  which  latter  stream  was  distant  a  mile  and  a  half. 
The  farm  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  lands  of  William  McDonald 
and  old  Torn  Williams,  recently  purchased  of  McWhaw;  on  the  south 
by  the  farm  of  old  Granny  Aikens ;  on  the  east  by  the  lands  of  Thanny 
and  John  Wilson ;  and  on  the  v/est  by  the  lands  of  David  Foster  and 
Robert  McConnell. 

Our  nearest  neighbors  were  the  McConnells,  whose  farm  adjoined 
ours  on  the  southwest,  separated  by  a  public  road,  and  their  house  was 
about  half  a  mile  away. 

In  this  family  were  Robert  McConnell  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Jane  Hawk.  Their  children  were  :  Joseph,  who  married  first 
Mary  Thompson,  and  second,  Rebecca  McClure;  Robert  Hawk,  who 
married  Rebecca  Jane  Blackburn  ;  Hannah,  who  married  John  Walker ; 
Eliza  Jane,  who  married  Joseph  Hook  ;  Nancy,  who  married  William 
McDowell ;  and  Thomas,  who  died  when  about  two  years  old. 

Joining  McConnell's,  on  the  southwest  and  southeast,  was  the  farm 
of  Richard  lams,  whose  family  consisted  of  himself,  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren,— Amos,  Perry,  Andy,  Mary  Ann  and  Eleanor,  who  married  Lewis 
Anderson,  of  Steubenville.  After  the  death  of  Richard  lams,  the  farm 
was  sold ;  his  wife  went  to  live  with  her  daughter  Eleanor  in  town,  and 
the  boys  went  off  out  west.  Part  of  the  farm  was  purchased  by  Joseph 
Gracy,  who  was  married  to  a  daughter  of  old  Mr.  Hook,  and  they  had 
children  named  Mary,  James  and  Ida.  The  other  part  of  the  lams  farm 
was  bought  by  Robert  McConnell,  and  in  one  of  the  fields  of  that  part 
of  the  lams  farm  stood  the  old  log  school-house  where  our  children 
first  went  to  school  after  we  moved  into  that  neighborhood. 

Lying  to  the  south  of  our  farm,  and  separated  by  a  public  road,  was 
the  farm  of  Granny  Aikens.  It  was  remarkable  for  one  field  which 
formed  a  singular  knob,  and  this  was  the  highest  point  of  land  in  all 
that  region,  where  there  was  a  fine  view  in  every  direction,  especially 
away  across  the  Ohio  River  into  the  Pan-Handle  of  Virginia.  Still 
farther  on  to  the  south,  past  the  Granny  Aikens  place,  was  the  farm  of 
James  Erwin.  He  had  married  Eleanor  Hill,  and  had  first  lived  in 
Steubenville,  and  kept  what  was  known  as  the  "  Round  Corner  "  tavern ; 
but  about  a  year  before  we  came  into  the  neighborhood,  they  had 
moved  out  to  this  place,  which  had  been  a  part  of  the  Hill  farm.     The 


1833  ]  FAMIL  V  HISTOR  Y.  249 

Erwin  children  were  as  follows  :  Robert,  who  was  a  young  man  of 
remarkable  promise,  but  he  died  at  the  age  of  nineteen  ;  Margaret,  who 
married  Joseph  Blackburn;  Rosamond,  who  married  Andrew  Gould; 
Sarah  Jane ;  Mary,  who  married  Samuel  Scott ;  Eleanor ;  James  Wil- 
liam, who  married  Adda  Barron;  John,  who  married  Tillie  Abrams,  and 
Samuel,  who  died  young. 

In  after  years,  about  1839,  the  old  school-house  on  the  lams  place 
was  abandoned,  and  a  new  one  was  built  about  twenty  rods  beyond 
Ervvin's  house,  on  a  corner  of  the  farm  of  James  Hill.  It  was  situated 
in  a  grove  of  large  oak  trees,  and  was  first  known  as  Hill's  school- 
house,  and  afterwards  as  the  Oak  Grove  school-house.  The  first  teacher 
in  this  new  school-house  was  Baz.  Johnson,  and  here  all  of  our  younger 
children  went  to  school.  This  was  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
our  house. 

South  of  this  school-house  about  half  a  mile  was  the  old  Hill  home- 
stead, where  lived  old  Robert  Hill  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Rosamond  Welsh.  Their  children  were,  —  George,  who  married  Peggy 
Odbert,  and  lived  half  a  mile  east  of  the  old  homestead  until  the  mar- 
riage of  his  brother  Joseph  in  1848;  Stephen,  who  married  Martha 
Searles  and  lived  in  town;  John,  who  died  young;  Robert,  who  mar- 
ried Sally  Johnson  and  lived  farther  down  towards  Cross  Creek,  and 
carried  on  the  milling  business ;  James,  who  married  Maria  Neff,  and 
lived  on  the  old  homestead ;  Joseph  Welsh,  who  married  our  oldest 
daughter,  Mary  Ann;  Peggy,  who  married  John  Hill,  of  Beallsville,  Pa.; 
and  Eleanor,  who  married  James  Erwin.  The  old  Hill  homestead  farm 
was  divided,  and  the  western  half  fell  to  James,  and  the  eastern  part  to 
Joseph.  It  was  here  that  George  Hill  lived  in  the  early  days  of  our 
coming  to  the  neighborhood,  and  adjoining  that  farm  still  farther  to  the 
east  was  the  farm  and  home  of  Jeremiah  Hallock,  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  this  district.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Hallock,  of  Plainfield,  Conn ,  and,  when  a  young  man,  came  out  to  Steu- 
benville,  settled  down  there  as  a  lawyer,  united  with  the  Eirst  Presbyte- 
rian Church  by  profession,  and  afterwards  became  an  honored  elder  in 
that  church,  and  so  continued  to  the  day  of  his  death.  In  his  family 
were  his  wife  and  his  adopted  daughter,  who  was  a  niece  of  his  wife's, 
named   Lavinia  Annable.     She  afterwards  married  Adam    Boyd,  who 


250  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1833. 

lived  down  on  Cross  Creek,  and  afterwards  moved  out  to  the  vicinity  of 
Council  Bluffs,  Iowa.  In  the  family  of  Judge  Hallock  was  also  his 
nephew,  Homan  Hallock,  who  afterwards  married  and  lived  for  years  in 
HoUiday's  Cove,  and  then  in  Steubenville,  and  was  the  father  of  twelve 
children  (two  of  whom  are  the  Rev.  Gerard  B.  F.  Hallock,  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  and  the  Rev.  Robert  C.  Hallock,  of  Tennent,  N.  J.— T.  J   S.). 

Passing  along  the  public  road  eastward,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  new  school-house,  was  the  home  of  Thanny  Wilson  and  his 
sister  Nancy,  neither  of  whom  were  ever  married,  and  a  little  farther  on 
lived  their  brother  John  Wilson,  who  married  Susan  Lloyd,  and  their 
children  were  four  boys:  James,  John,  Henry  and  Isaac. 

Southeast  of  our  house  half  a  mile,  away  down  in  a  deep  ravine,  just 
at  the  point  where  our  farm,  the  Granny. Aikens  farm,  and  the  Wilson 
farm  all  joined,  there  lived  in  a  little  log  cabin  a  character  in  the  neigh- 
borhood named  Felix  Pryor.  He  had  married  a  widow  by  the  name  of 
Myers,  and  their  son  David  Myers  lived  with  them.  He  has  for  many 
years  been  an  enterprising  business  man  of  Steubenville.  Besides  this 
stepson  David  Myers,  Felix  Pryor  had  two  sons  of  his  own  by  this 
marriage,  and  their  names  were  John  and  Joseph.  (David  Myers  died 
December  i6,  1889.— T.  J.  S.) 

Across  from  our  farm  to  the  northeast,  in  the  direction  of  town,  there 
was  the  farm  that  William  McDonald  had  purchased  of  McWhaw,  and 
here  afterwards  for  many  years  lived  a  man  named  Ben  Hart,  and  in 
after  years  the  property  changed  hands  many  tmies.  Westward  from 
that,  and  directly  north  of  us,  was  the  old  Tom  Williams  farm,  which 
for  many  years  has  been  owned  and  occupied  by  his  nephew,  Obadiah  J. 
Williams.  Northwest  of  that  was  the  farm  owned  and  occupied  by 
David  England,  and  afterwards  rented  by  Robert  Thompson ;  but  the 
farm  is  still  owned  by  the  England  heirs.  Westward  from  England's, 
and  about  a  mile  from  our  house,  was  the  home  of  David  Foster,  who 
went  to  California  in  the  days  of  the  gold  excitement  of  '49,  and  died  on 
his  way  home.  His  children  were  :  Mary,  who  married  Mr.  Coe  ;  Kate  ; 
Ephraim  ;  James  ;  and  Margaret,  who  married  William  Grafton  and  lives 
in  Steubenville. 

About  half  way  over  to  Foster's,  down  in  the  hollow,  lived  Mrs. 
Mattie  Gamble,  who  was  a  niece  of  old  Tom  Williams.     Her  maiden 


1833.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  251 

name  was  Mattie  Work,  and  she  had  married  William  Gamble,  and  had 
children :  William,  Martha,  Thomas,  Andy,  Mary  Jane  and  John. 
Directly  westward  from  our  house  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  there 
h'ved  an  old  and  respectable  colored  man  by  the  name  of  William  West- 
brook.  He  was  the  father  of  Alex.  Westbrook,  who  lived  on  my  farm 
in  the  tenant-house  in  after  years,  and  was  one  of  the  best  work  hands  I 
ever  had.  After  the  death  of  old  William  Westbrook  the  farm  passed 
into  other  hands,  and  for  years  past  it  has  been  owned  by  Robert  Hawk 
McConnell,  who  has  brought  up  a  family  of  four  boys  and  two  girls. 
Still  farther  to  the  west,  and  about  one  mile  from  our  house,  lived  old 
John  Williams  and  his  family. 

His  wife  was  Margaret  Crawford,  a  sister  of  old  Nathaniel  Crawford, 
and  their  children  were :  John,  who  was  educated  at  New  Athens  Col- 
lege, read  law,  and  settled  in  Marion,  O. ;  Margaret,  who  married  James 
Kendall;  Obadiah  Jennings,  who  married  Elizabeth  Decker  after  he  had 
lived  for  years  as  an  old  bachelor  ;  and  Elizabeth,  who  married  a  Mr. 
Charnock  in  Wheeling.  There  was  another  family  living  between 
Williams'  and  Foster's,  that  of  John  Sutherland,  and  he  had  children 
Margaret  and  Alexander. 

These  were  all  near  neighbors  within  about  a  mile  from  our  house  in 
every  direction.  There  were  others  who  lived  farther  away,  as  the 
Ekeys,  and  Hooks,  and  Goulds,  and  Boyds,  and  Adamses,  and  Peelors, 
and  Potters,  who  lived  down  at  Mingo. 

DIGGING  THE   WELL. 

There  was  no  well  on  the  premises  when  we  moved  to  the  new  farm, 
but  we  were  obliged  to  get  all  our  water  for  house  use  at  a  spring  several 
rods  away  down  the  hill  as  we  went  towards  town,  and  this  was  very 
inconvenient. 

Accordingly  it  was  my  purpose  to  have  a  well  dug  as  soon  as  possible 
near  the  house.  That  fall  of  1833  old  Mr.  Orr,  of  Holliday's  Cove,  who 
had  married  my  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Hindman,  came  with  his  wife  over 
on  a  visit  to  our  house,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation  Mr.  Orr 
learned  that  we  were  going  to  have  a  well  dug  near  the  kitchen  door. 
He  asked  me  if  I  had  got  any  person  to  tell  by  means  of  a  forked  stick 


252  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1834. 

where  the  stream  of  water  was  to  be  found.  I  replied  that  I  had  not 
done  so,  for  I  did  not  believe  in  such  folly  and  superstition. 

He  said  that  he  could  tell  where  there  was  water,  and  so  he  went  to  a 
thrifty  peach  tree  and  cut  a  forked  stick.  With  this  he  went  two  or 
three  times  around  the  house,  each  time  enlarging  his  circle,  until  at 
last,  when  he  had  gone  about  ten  rods  out  beyond  where  the  new  stable 
now  stands,  he  stopped  and  said  there  was  water  here. 

I  said  that  I  did  not  want  to  dig  a  well  there,  for  it  was  too  far  away 
from  the  house.  It  was  very  likely  that  there  was  water  where  he  had 
indicated,  for  there  was  a  natural  depression  of  the  ground  in  that  par- 
ticular place,  which  gradually  formed  into  a  ravine  below  the  barn  where 
a  spring  came  out,  but  Mother  Orr  and  I  were  diverted  at  seeing  Mr. 
Orr  searching  for  water  with  a  forked  stick,  for  neither  of  us  believed  in 
such  things. 

Coming  home  from  the  annual  election  that  fall  of  1833,  the  second 
Tuesday  of  October,  I  fell  in  with  an  old  Smithfield  acquaintance  named 
John  Pool,  and  I  hired  him  for  $\o  a  month  to  come  and  work  for  me, 
particularly  in  digging  the  well,  as  he  said  he  was  up  to  that  kind  of 
work.  The  first  day  he  went  down  eight  feet,  but  at  the  depth  of  thir- 
teen feet  he  came  on  a  hard,  slaty  substance,  so  that  in  eleven  days  he 
had  gone  down  only  twenty-two  feet. 

Pool  then  left  after  the  end  of  his  month,  for  he  would  not  stay  any 
longer,  and  the  well  had  to  stand  still  for  a  whole  year.  Then  the  fall 
of  1834  I  went  all  the  way  out  to  Stillwater,  where  Pool  lived,  and 
brought  him  in  and  set  him  to  work  in  the  well  once  more.  But  it  was 
no  go,  for  Pool  was  not  contented,  and  after  only  three  days'  work  he 
complained  that  the  dampness  in  the  well  gave  him  the  "  ager,"  as  he 
called  it,  so  I  paid  him  and  sent  Joseph  with  him  part  of  the  way  home 
to  take  him  on  a  horse,  and  I  never  saw  John  Pool  after  that. 

Pool  had  the  bump  of  the  marvellous  largely  developed  in  him,  for  no 
man  could  tell  a  story  full  of  exaggeration  but  he  would  match  it.  He 
had  gone  on  a  flatboat  in  1817  down  to  New  Orleans,  and  when  he  got 
home  he  had  many  marvellous  stories  to  tell  of  what  he  had  seen  during 
his  trip.  Among  other  curiosities  that  Pool  had  seen  was  a  thousand 
dollar  bank  note  on  the  United  States  Bank,  a  branch  of  which  was  lo- 
cated in  New  Orleans. 


1835.]  FAI\IILY  HISTORY.  253 

Some  one  present  remarked  that  that  was  a  very  large  note,  meaning 
the  amount,  when  Pool  said  :  "  Yes,  I  declare  it  was  as  big  as  a  news- 
paper." The  well  was  finally  finished  by  a  man  from  town  named 
Fisher,  who  blasted  out  the  rock  till  the  well  reached  the  depth  of  thirty- 
six  feet. 

A  small  stream  of  water  had  already  been  secured,  and  as  there  was 
no  increase  in  the  amount  of  water,  I  ordered  Fisher  to  stop  work,  and 
bargained  with  him  to  wall  up  the  well  for  the  sum  of  ;$3,  and  this  he 
did. 

When  he  first  came  to  work  at  the  well  he  asked  me  who  had  searched 
out  that  place  for  a  well,  and  I  replied  that  I  selected  the  place  for  its 
convenience,  and  did  not  believe  in  water-witches,  nor  anything  of  that 
kind. 

Fisher,  however,  got  a  forked  stick,  and  went  round  and  round  the 
house  with  the  stick  in  his  hand,  and  at  length  stopped  at  the  side  of  the 
well,  and  told  me  that  I  had  hit  the  very  spot. 

My  fifth  daughter  and  ninth  child  was  born  July  31,  1834,  and  she  was 
called  Susanna  Cathcart  for  my  old  aunt,  the  wife  of  old  Uncle  David 
Cathcart. 

The  spring  of  1835  I  and  the  boys  Joseph  and  David  began  to  clear 
the  ground  on  the  south  side  of  the  farm  around  where  the  square  log 
house  now  stands,  and  that  summer  I  employed  old  Alex.  Grimes  to 
hew  logs  and  make  shingles  for  that  tenant  house,  but  it  was  not  raised 
and  completed  till  1837.  In  the  latter  part  of  March,  1835,  I  had  our 
threshing  done  for  the  first  time  by  a  common  large  threshing  machine, 
which  required  from  four  to  six  horses  to  keep  up  sufificient  power,  and 
ten  hands  to  do  the  work,  exclusive  of  the  one  who  fed  the  machine  and 
the  one  who  drove  the  horses.  Previous  to  this  time  I  had  always  had 
my  crops  tramped  out  with  horses.  But  now,  at  this  early  period  of 
threshing  with  a  machine,  the  sheaves  had  all  to  be  loosed  by  hand,  as  it 
was  thought  that  if  cut  the  tie  would  break  out  the  spikes. 

It  was  in  May,  1835,  that  I  became  security  for  John  Scott  the  miller 
to  old  John  England  in  the  sum  of  ^500,  and  in  this  I  lost  heavily,  for 
Scott  broke  up  completely,  and  it  cost  me  over  ^looo,  principal  and  in- 
terest, before  I  had  done  with  it.  So  much  for  going  security — a  lesson 
learned  by  experience  in  a  dear  school,  which  may  be  a  warning  to  me 


254  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1836. 

and  my  posterity.  This,  with  what  I  lost  by  going  security  for  old 
Harry  Swearingen,  made  ;§i8oo. 

In  January,  1836,  my  brother  John  and  I  made  arrangements  to  go 
on  a  visit  together  to  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  to  see  our  old  Uncle  David 
Cathcart,  and  I  took  my  daughter,  Mary  Ann,  along.  We  found  our 
brother  David  and  his  wife  Betsy  well,  and  also  old  Uncle  Cathcart, 
although  in  two  months  from  that  time,  on  March  17th,  he  would  be 
ninety-two  years  of  age.  He  remarked  to  me,  however,  that  he  was 
weak  and  tottery  on  his  feet,  and  I  noticed  this  weakness  in  his  limbs 
when  he  would  walk  across  the  floor.  And  I  further  noticed  at  that 
time  that  his  Highland  Scotch  visage,  his  high  and  large  cheek  bones 
appeared  to  want  that  amount  of  flesh  to  cover  them  that  was  noticed 
in  former  days.  But  he  lived  on  till  the  month  of  June,  1836,  when  he 
breathed  his  la.st.  He  was  a  good  man  and  was  much  respected 
wherever  he  resided,  for  he  was  a  God-fearing  man  and  always  acted 
from  a  conscientious  principle.  He  was  buried  in  the  old  Laurel 
Hill  grave-yard,  beside  his  wife,  Susanna  Guthridge,  who  had  died  April 
21,  1826. 

He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Alexander  Cathcart  and  his  wife  Ann  Gam- 
ble, and  a  full  brother  of  my  mother,  Mary  Cathcart.  He  was  born  in 
County  Fermanagh,  Ireland,  March  17,  1744,  old  style;  was  married  to 
Susannah  Guthridge  September  3,  1770;  left  Ireland,  with  his  wife, 
August  10,  1772  ;  came  to  America  and  settled  at  a  mill  in  Nottingham 
Township,  Chester  County,  Pa.,  not  far  from  New  London  Cross  Roads, 
where  his  uncle,  Andrew  Gamble,  was  already  settled,  at  Thunder  Hill. 
Here  he  remained  till  the  spring  of  1780,  when  with  his  father  and  sister 
Mary  he  removed  west  of  the  mountains,  and  settled  in  Fayette  County, 
Pa.,  where  he  died.  His  wife  Susannah  was  born  in  County  Fermanagh, 
Ireland,  December  5,  1748. 

Our  old  uncle  had  been  very  deaf  for  the  last  fifty  years  of  his  life. 

TRIP   NORTHWEST  WITH  JOSEPH   W.    HILL. 

On  Wednesday,  October  26,  1836,  I  and  our  neighbor,  Joseph  W. 
Hill,  left  home  after  dinner  on  a  journey  to  Sandusky  City,  and  thence 
to  the  town  of  Fremont.  We  proceeded  that  evening  as  far  as  my 
brother  John's,  four  miles  west  of  Smithfield,  where  we  lodged  the  first 


1836.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  255 

night.  The  next  day  we  passed  onward  on  our  trip,  and  stopped  a 
night  at  New  Philadelphia,  and  then  on  through  Wooster  to  the  home 
of  Thomas  Andrews,  my  brother-in-law,  by  two  o'clock  Saturday 
afternoon.  Late  that  evening  we  went  over  to  visit  the  family  of  Thomas 
Kithcart,  where  we  staid  over  Sabbath.  Thomas  Andrews  died  two 
years  after  this,  September  i8,  1838,  and  left  two  boys,  Joseph  and 
Thomas,  who  both  became  ministers  in  the  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  were  both  strong  advocates  of  Rouse's  Version  of  the  Psalms  of 
David.  Thomas  died  young  of  consumption  in  September,  1S65,  and 
Joseph  died  of  the  same  disease  June  19,  1869,  he  being  at  that  time 
pastor  of  the  U.  P.  Church  of  Wellsville,  O. 

On  Monday  we  left  the  house  of  Thomas  Kithcart,  and  went  on  our 
way,  stopping  for  the  night  at  a  little  town  called  Rome.  At  this 
tavern,  where  we  stopped,  they  had  a  little  gathering  to  pare  apples  and 
stir  apple  butter,  but  we  had  no  invitation  to  join  in  with  their  sports. 

In  the  morning  after  breakfast  we  paid  each  seventy-five  cents  for  our 
two  meals  and  lodging,  as  well  as  our  horse  feed,  and  this  was  the  com- 
mon charge  all  along  our  way. 

From  this  town  we  passed  on  through  half  a  dozen  small  towns,  and 
finally  stopped  for  the  night  at  a  tavern  eight  miles  from  Sandusky  City, 
but  the  next  morning  we  rode  on  to  Sandusky  City,  which  is  on  the 
bay  which  opens  out  into  the  main  body  of  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie. 
From  this  place  we  made  our  way  southward  toward  Fremont,  until  we 
came  to  a  place  over  to  the  northeast  of  Fremont. 

In  this  vicinity,  lying  on  both  sides  of  Little  Pickerel  Creek,  was  my 
quarter  section  of  land  which  my  brother  Thomas  had  entered  for  me  in 
July,  1822,  and  which  I  had  never  yet  seen.  We  staid  all  night  with  a 
man  named  Higly,  who  lived  just  across  the  creek  from  my  land,  and 
the  next  morning  he  took  us  all  over  my  land  to  see  it. 

From  there  we  passed  on  up  eight  miles  to  the  town  of  Fremont, 
where  we  did  not  detain  long,  but  rode  on  out  about  two  miles  to 
Rideout's,  where,  after  dinner,  I  got  Mr.  Rideout  to  go  with  us  and 
show  us  the  three  quarter  sections  of  land  that  belonged  to  my  brother 
John  and  myself,  and  also  to  the  heirs  of  my  brother  Thomas,  and  my 
object  was  to  see  if  any  timber  had  been  taken  away,  but  I  found  that 
nothing  of  that  kind  had  been  done. 


256  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1836. 

We  returned  to  Rideout's  and  staid  all  night,  and  the  next  morning 
we  came  into  the  town  of  Fremont.  This  was  November  4,  1836,  the 
day  of  the  Presidential  election. 

PRESIDENTIAL   ELECTION   OF    1 836. 

I  felt  inclined  to  get  my  vote  cast  for  General  William  Henry  Harri- 
son, as  he  was  the  Whig  candidate,  while  Martin  Van  Buren  was  the 
Loco  Foco,  or  Democratic  candidate.  However,  my  first  object  in 
leaving  home  and  coming  here  was  to  obtain  from  the  Clerk  of  the  Court 
a  statement  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  estate  of  Thomas  G.  Sherrard  to 
me  as  Administrator.  As  I  held  scrip  worth  $125  as  a  part  of  the  assets 
of  the  estate,  I  wished  to  obtain  an  order  from  the  Orphans'  Court  of 
Fayette  County,  Pa.,  ordering  the  guardian  of  the  two  minor  children 
of  Thomas  G.  Sherrard,  William  J.  and  Thomas,  to  sell  me  the  said  scrip 
to  satisfy  in  part  my  claim  against  said  estate.  Another  object  I  had  in 
coming  here  at  this  time  was  to  pay  taxes  on  my  own  two  quarters 
and  two  quarters  of  my  brother  John,  and  also  on  the  three  quarters  be- 
longing to  the  estate  above  mentioned. 

I  went  to  the  house  where  the  election  was  held  and  voted  for  Harri- 
son. I  had  left  Joseph  Hill  at  the  public  house  where  we  had  put  up, 
and  I  felt  inclined  to  let  him  stay  there,  that  he  might  have  no  chance  to 
vote,  as  he  was  a  Democrat,  but  I  missed  my  aim.  I  had  gone  over  the 
river  to  see  the  County  Treasurer,  Mr.  Vandoren,  about  the  taxes,  and 
he  soon  began  to  quiz  me  as  to  my  views  about  the  election,  desiring  to 
know  the  prospect  of  the  election  of  Harrison  in  my  part  of  the  country, 
as  he  pretended  to  be  a  fast  friend  of  General  Harrison. 

This  shameful  deceitful  conduct  of  Vandoren  put  me  off  my  guard, 
for  I  thought  by  his  conversation  that  he  was  what  he  pretended  to  be, 
a  good  Whig,  and  by  so  doing  in  deceiving  me  he  drew  out  of  me  the 
fact  that  I  had  left  my  comrade  at  the  tavern,  and  that  I  would  not  take 
him  to  the  election,  for  if  I  did,  he  being  a  Democrat,  would  vote  for 
Van  Buren,  to  the  injury  of  Harrison. 

Mr.  Vandoren  asked  me  what  tavern  we  were  stopping  at,  and  I  told 
him,  not  having  any  suspicion  of  what  his  aim  was,  and  as  soon  as  I  had 
left  him  and  was  gone  to  the  Auditor's  office,  Vandoren  watched  his  op- 
portunity and  went  to  the  tavern  where  he  found  Joseph  Hill  and  made 


1836.]  FAMILY  HTSTORV.  257 

his  acquaintance,  and  tock  him  to  the  election,  where  they  gave  him  a 
chance  to  vote  for  Van  Buren,  and  he  boasted  to  me  afterwards  how 
completely  Vandoren  had  outwitted  me,  and  by  so  doing  had  killed  my 
vote. 

OUR  JOURNEY    HOMEWARD. 

Having  completed  all  my  business  in  town,  we  left  F'remont  and  came 
as  far  as  Ballville,  opposite  Tiffin,  where  we  staid  all  night,  and  the  next 
day,  November  5th,  we  passed  on  through  Rome,  some  twenty  miles 
out  from  Ballville,  and  from  there  we  came  to  Findlay,  the  county  seat 
of  Hancock  County.  From  there  we  went  four  miles  northwest  to  visit 
the  family  of  Absalom  Hall,  who  had  moved  out  there  from  Harrison 
County  the  fall  of  1834. 

He  was  married  to  a  cousin  of  my  first  wife,  a  daughter  of  old  John 
Cunningham.  We  remained  over  Sabbath  with  the  Halls,  and  went  to 
church  with  them  at  Findlay,  where  the  family  attended  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  services  were  conducted  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Van 
Eman,  formerly  from  Washington  County,  Pa.  After  sermon  we  re- 
turned to  Absalom  Hall's  where  we  spent  the  remainder  of  the  Sabbath 
in  that  old-fashioned  manner  of  Sabbath-keeping  so  common  among 
Presbyterian  families  in  olden  times,  but  I  fear  that  such  strictness  in 
the  way  of  Sabbath-keeping  will  never  return  again.  That  old  manner 
of  keeping  the  Sabbath  was  to  refrain  from  vain  and  idle  conversation  ; 
to  refrain  also  from  reading  newspapers  and  vain  story  books,  and  to 
confine  the  family  to  the  reading  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  to 
sermon  books  or  only  good  books  that  treated  upon  religious  subjects, 
such  as  Boston's  "  Fourfold  State,"  "  The  Afflicted  Man's  Companion," 
"  The  Travels  of  True  Godliness,"  "  The  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  or  "The 
Holy  War,"  by  John  Bunyan,  not  forgetting  to  learn  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism and  the  Psalms  and  Hymns  by  Dr.  Watts.  Before  we  left  Absa- 
lom Hall's  on  Monday  we  learned  that  his  son  Aaron  was  to  be  married 
the  next  Thursday  to  a  daughter  of  their  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Van 
Eman,  and  they' gave  us  a  pressing  invitation  to  remain  for  the  wedding, 
but  we  had  to  decline  because  it  would  detain  us  too  long.  But  I 
suppose  one  motive  they  had  was  to  pay  back  a  debt  of  gratitude,  as 
it  will  be  remembered  that  when  I  was  married  to  Jane  Hind- 
17 


258  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1836. 

man,  May  24,  1827,  I  had  Absalom  Hall  and  his  wife  at  our  infare 
on  the  25th,  and  they  staid  with  us  till  the  following  day  after  din- 
ner. And  upon  leaving  me  that  day  Absalom  Hall  observed  to  me 
that  I  had  got  a  wife  now  who  to  all  appearance  would  hold  out  as 
long  as  I  would. 

As  proof  that  Absalom  Hall  guessed  pretty  nearly  right,  thirty-eight 
years  and  six  months  have  rolled  by  since  that  time,  and  I  and  Jane 
Hindman  are  both  living  after  the  lapse  of  all  these  years,  and  thank 
God  we  are  both  in  good  health  and  the  enjoyment  of  each  other's 
company  and  fellowship,  and  not  a  wave  of  trouble  rolls  across  our 
peaceful  breasts,  and  naught  to  break  our  rest. 

(And  just  here,  November  22,  1889,  I  have  read  to  mother  a  few  of 
the  foregoing  pages,  and  she  has  greatly  enjoyed  them,  her  mind  being 
perfectly  clear,  and  all  her  faculties  remarkably  preserved,  si.xty-two 
years  and  six  months  after  her  marriage  above  mentioned,  and  she  will 
be  eighty-five  years  of  age  December  14th,  next  month. — T.  J.  S.) 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  November  7,  1836,  when  we  left 
Hall's,  for  Joseph  Hill  had  that  forenoon  purchased  from  Absalom  Hall 
two  lots  of  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Findlay,  and  I  drew  up  the  deeds  for 
them,  one  of  forty  acres  and  the  other  of  eighty,  and  we  went  into  town 
and  had  the  deeds  acknowledged  and  recorded. 

Leaving  Findlay  we  traveled  southward  and  stopped  at  Kenton,  the 
county-seat  of  Hardin  County,  and  then  came  on  to  Bellefontainc,  the 
county-seat  of  Logan  County. 

Here  the  land  was  more  rolling  and  much  richer  and  more  dry,  and 
we  found  that  we  were  on  the  highest  ridge  in  the  northwestern  part  of 
the  state  of  Ohio. 

We  also  found  that  this  town  of  Bellefontainc  had  three  springs  that 
rose  to  the  surface  on  the  top  of  this  ridge.  One  of  these  was  the  head 
spring  of  the  Sandusky  River  which  runs  into  Lake  Erie ;  another  is 
the  source  of  the  Little  Miami  River  that  runs  southward  into  the  Ohio 
River;  and  the  third  spring  is  the  head  of  the  Scioto  River,  which 
empties  into  the  Ohio  at  Portsmouth. 

Here  we  turned  eastward  and  came  through  Marysville,  the  county- 
seat  of  Union  County,  and  onward  to  Delaware,  the  county-seat  of 
Delaware  County.     We  came  on  by  Thursday  evening,  November  loth, 


1836.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  259 

and  reached  the  house  of  Joseph  Clark,  four  miles  west  of  Mount 
Vernon,  the  county-seat  of  Knox  County.  We  found  the  family  all 
well,  and  they  joyfully  received  us,  as  Joseph  Clark  was  a  distant  rela- 
tive of  mine  on  the  Gamble  side  of  the  house,  his  grandmother  being  a 
full  cousin  of  my  mother,  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Welsh, 
was  a  full  cousin  of  Joseph  Hill.  We  also  visited  the  family  of  John 
Welsh,  an  uncle  of  Joseph  Hill,  who  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount 
Vernon,  and  among  the  friends  there  we  remained  over  Sabbath.  We 
came  on  homeward  through  Newark,  and  Zanesville,  and  Concord. 
Here  we  separated  for  the  night,  I  turning  off  the  national  pike  half  a 
mile  to  visit  my  cousin,  Mrs.  Mary  McClure,  while  Joseph  Hill  went  on 
about  eighteen  miles  farther  east  to  visit  a  friend  of  his,  Mrs.  Shaw,  who 
kept  a  tavern.  The  next  day  I  came  on  and  joined  Joseph  Hill  at  this 
place,  where  I  met  Mrs.  Shaw  and  her  father,  who  was  a  man  of  good 
information,  and  so  was  his  son,  our  neighbor,  James  Ervvin. 

The  next  day  we  took  the  national  turnpike  and  came  on  to  Morris- 
town,  and  there  we  left  the  pike  and  took  the  state  road  for  Mount 
Pleasant.  We  called  at  the  house  of  Elias  Yost,  who  was  married  to 
my  sister-in-law,  Kezia  Kithcart,  but  we  found  no  one  at  home.  Soon 
after  this  we  separated,  Joseph  Hill  taking  the  road  to  the  left  to  go  to 
his  cousin  John  Hill's,  while  I  came  on  to  Mount  Pleasant,  where  I 
found  the  friends  all  well,  and  where  I  found  Elias  Yost  and  his  wife  at 
the  house  of  old  mother  Kithcart.  Here  I  visited  all  the  friends,  and 
on  Saturday,  November  19,  1836,  I  arrived  home  from  the  trip. 

DAILY  JOURNAL   BEGUN. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1837,  I  commenced  keeping  a  daily 
journal,  which  has  been  daily  kept  up  from  that  time  to  this,  and  through 
all  these  years  I  have  found  it  very  well  worth  the  pains  I  took,  because  of 
its  usefulness,  and  I  have  made  many  improvements  in  my  entries  since  I 
first  began. 

The  weather  was  very  cold,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  sleighing 
that  winter. 

My  sixth  daughter  and  tenth  child  was  born  on  Sabbath,  January  8, 
1837,  and  we  called  her  Sarah,  after  my  brother  John's  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Sarah  Harrah. 


260  THE  SHEER ARD  FAMILY.  [1837. 

On  Tuesday,  the  24th,  Uncle  John  and  Aunt  Sarah  came  down  in 
their  sleigh  to  make  us  a  visit,  and  remained  two  days.  Our  little 
daughter  was  not  baptized  until  Sabbath,  July  2d,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
our  new  pastor,  the  Rev.  Henry  G.  Comingo,  was  not  ordained  and 
installed  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville  until 
May  24,  1837,  and  the  first  communion  that  he  held  was  on  Sabbath, 
June  4th.  A  number  of  children  were  kept  back  from  baptism  on  this 
account,  and  on  the  same  day  ten  others  were  baptized  with  Sarah. 

The  Rev.  Charles  C.  Beatty  had  been  our  pastor,  but  on  the  second 
Monday  of  November,  1835,  he  notified  the  congregation  that  he  must 
give  up  the  charge ;  that  he  could  not  remain  pastor  of  the  church  and 
conduct  his  new  Female  Seminary  that  he  had  started  April  13,  1829; 
that  he  had  found  that  his  salary  of  ^500  was  not  sufficient  to  keep  his 
family,  and  therefore  he  must  give  up  the  congregation  and  give  his  full 
attention  to  the  Seminary.  This  took  the  congregation  by  surprise, 
and  after  Mr.  Beatty  had  retired  from  the  house  a  committee,  consisting 
of  Mr.  Hogue,  an  elder,  and  James  Collier,  at  that  time  a  noted  lawyer, 
and  myself,  was  sent  out  to  wait  on  the  pastor,  and  propose  to  him  a 
vacation  of  six  months  to  go  abroad  and  recruit  his  health.  We  waited 
on  him,  but  he  declined  to  remain. 

The  spring  of  1836  Mr.  McClain  was  elected  pastor,  but  on  account 
of  his  health  he  was  able  to  remain  only  three  or  four  months,  and  he 
went  back  to  Kentucky  where  he  came  from.  Mr.  Beatty  then  con- 
tinued to  supply  the  pulpit  of  our  church  until  the  fall  of  1S36,  when  he 
secured  the  services  of  a  young  Kentuckian  named  Comingo,  who  had 
just  finished  his  theological  studies  at  Princeton,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach.  He  came  to .  Steubenville  about  the  1st  of  November,  1836, 
and  preached  on  trial  till  the  following  February,  when,  on  Monday, 
February  13,  1837,  he  was  elected  pastor,  and  accepted.  He  remained 
with  us  a  most  earnest,  faithful  and  successful  pastor,  and  greatly  be- 
loved by  the  congregation,  until  his  death,  from  diphtheria,  December 
I,  1861.  He  married  Isabel  W.,  a  daughter  of  Neville  Craig,  Esq,  of 
Pittsburgh,  and  his  wife  and  two  sons,  Edward  Gray  and  Neville  B. 
Craig,  survived  him.     Mr.  Comingo  was  married  April  10,  1838. 


1837.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  261 

FINAL   PAYMENT    ON    FARM. 

On  April  13,  1837,  I  made  a  final  settlement  with  James  Ross  of 
Pittsburgh,  through  his  agent,  David  Moody,  in  Steubenville,  and  lifted 
the  notes  and  mortgage  I  had  given  on  the  farm.  Since  April  1,  1833, 
I  had  made  fifteen  different  payments,  and  now  the  interest  on  all  these 
payments  had  to  be  made.  As  Moody  had  no  time  to  attend  to  it  he 
agreed  to  take  the  calculation  of  lawyer  Marsh,  and  Marsh  agreed  with 
me  to  make  the  calculation  for  the  sum  of  $3.  In  about  two  hours 
he  had  completed  it,  and  the  interest  for  four  years  was  found  to  be  in 
all  ^475.14,5  ;  which  together  with  the  mortgage  itself  of  ^1979.76, 
made  a  total  of  ^2454.90.  At  the  time  of  the  purchase  of  the  farm  $200 
had  been  paid  down,  and  ^1000  on  April  i,  1833  ;  thus  the  whole  cost 
of  the  farm  of  Sugar  Hill  was  ^3654.90. 

It  was  on  Thursday,  April  20th,  of  this  year,  that  two  Yankee  grafters 
came  over  from  Judge  Hallock's,  where  they  had  been  grafting  apple 
trees,  and  I  gave  my  consent  to  their  putting  in  five  hundred  grafts  in 
the  old  natural  trees  of  the  orchard  which  had  been  planted  by  the  order 
of  Bezaleel  Wells  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  These 
grafters  agreed  to  take  two  cents  for  each  living  graft,  when  one  of 
them  would  come  the  first  week  of  the  following  September  and  count 
them.  Of  the  five  hundred  put  in,  it  was  found  that  450  were  living 
when  they  were  counted,  and  I  paid  $q.  As  new  varieties  they  put  in 
Peck's  Pleasant,  or  as  we  always  called  them,  the  Pink  Eye;  the  Golden 
Sweet,  which  we  called  the  Monroe;  and  the  Red  and  Green  Sam  Slick, 
and  we  found  all  these  varieties  very  valuable  for  cooking  and  eating. 

MY    FIRST   WIG. 

After  I  had  the  fever  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  my  first  wife,  the 
hair  on  the  top  of  my  head  came  out,  but  after  some  time  a  short  down 
came  out  and  covered  all  the  top  of  my  head.  This  downy  hair  re- 
mained till  I  was  nearly  forty-seven  years  of  age,  and  it  then  began  to 
disappear,  so  that  by  the  time  I  was  forty-seven  years  old  I  concluded 
to  get  me  a  wig  and  wear  it.  Acting  upon  this  resolution,  about  April  i, 
1837, 1  gave  the  measure  of  my  head  to  our  storekeeper,  Alexander  Conn, 
and  he  brought  me  out  from  Ph'ladelphia  a  wig  at  a  cost  to  me  of  $7, 
and  it  was  a  very  good  one.     But  owing  to  the  fact  that  I  did  not  know 


262  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1838. 

how  to  use  it,  often  wearing  it  out  in  the  hot  sun  instead  of  my  hat,  the 
hot  sun  changed  the  color  of  the  wig,  and  in  one  year's  time  the  de- 
cency of  the  wig  was  over. 

My  second  wig  was  purchased  for  me  in  Philadelphia  by  John 
McMechan,  for  which  I  paid  him  $8,  and  this  one  I  took  better  care  of, 
wearing  it  only  to  town  and  to  church,  and  whenever  I  went  abroad,  so 
that  it  lasted  me  till  the  fall  of  1 854.  In  September  of  that  year  I  went 
to  the  State  Fair  in  Pittsburgh,  and  while  there  I  bought  my  third  wig 
at  a  cost  of  gi  I,  and  took  good  care  of  it  till  the  time  when  I  started 
with  my  son  Robert  on  a  trip  to  New  York,  when  I  laid  it  aside  and 
have  never  worn  a  wig  since,  and  this  was  April  28,  1861. 

There  was  nothing  specially  worthy  of  mention  happened  during  the 
summer  and  fall  of  this  year,  except  that  I  had  shingles  made  that  fall 
for  the  barn,  and  in  eleven  days  I  rived,  and  Joe  Fielding  shaved,  5956 
good  shingles.  It  was  on  Sabbath,  October  29th,  of  this  year,  that  the 
Rev.  Charles  C.  Beatty  opened  services  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Steubenville.  He  had  erected  the  building  and  had  it  finished 
ready  for  service  at  this  time  all  at  his  own  expense,  and  all  for  the 
advancement  of  the  Presbyterian  cause. 

I  wish  to  leave  it  on  record  that  during  this  year,  1837,  my  three 
sons,  Joseph,  David  and  Robert,  all  worked  exceedingly  well,  and  as 
for  son  John  he  was  not  yet  old  enough  to  do  much,  but  still  he  was  of 
great  service  in  running  errands  and  doing  light  work. 

The  first  of  the  year  1838  came  in  with  very  fine  weather.  It  was 
just  like  September  weather,  and  on  January  6th  David  plowed  in  the 
corner  of  the  orchard,  for  the  ground  was  dry  and  in  fine  order. 

BURNING    BRICK    FOR    NEW    HOUSE. 

As  it  was  my  purpose  to  erect  a  new  brick  dwelling-house  just  near 
the  old  house  in  which  we  were  living,  we  began  to  make  preparations 
in  March  of  this  year,  1838,  by  digging  the  clay  and  getting  ready  for 
the  brick-maker  Rennard.  By  July  i6th  the  kiln  of  90,000  brick  was 
finished  and  fired,  and  on  the  21st  Rennard  finished  the  burning,  having 
used  forty-seven  cords  of  wood.  This  would  have  been  sufficient  for  a 
kiln  of  that  size,  but  the  arches  were  not  properly  constructed,  and  the 
brick  were  not  properly  burned,  all  for  the  want  of  skill   in  Rennard  in 


1839.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  V.  263 

setting,  firing  and  watching  the  kiln.  I  went  to  town  and  brought  up 
Ambrose  Shaw,  an  old  hand  at  the  business,  and  he  condemned  the 
kiln,  and  recommended  me  to  have  another  kiln  of  about  30,000  made 
for  outside  work,  and  use  the  Rennard  brick  for  inside  work  and  sell 
what  I  could  of  the  rest.  My  bargain  with  Rennard  was  for  $1  per 
thousand,  but  I  docked  him  S40  in  the  settlement,  and  paid  him  only 
$50.  However,  I  was  put  to  the  trouble  and  expense  of  having  Henry 
Gill  burn  a  new  kiln  of  55,000  brick,  and  with  these  the  house  was  built, 
using  them  for  the  outside  and  Rennard's  for  the  inside. 

BUILDING    THE    NEW    HOUSE. 

On  Friday,  November  30,  1838,  our  little  son  John,  who  was  now 
eight  and  a  half  years  old,  went  with  me  over  to  the  Cove  to  spend  the 
winter  with  his  grandmother  Orr  to  be  company  for  the  old  people,  and 
run  errands  for  them. 

He  did  not  return  home  until  April  5,  1839,  when  son  Robert  went 
over  for  him.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the  death  of  his  grandmother 
Orr  occurred  on  Monday,  February  4,  1839,33  the  result  from  a  fall 
from  her  horse  more  than  a  year  before  on  October  28,  1837,  as  she 
was  returning  home  from  church  on  a  Saturday.  As  we  were  on  our 
way  to  church  on  Sabbath  morning  we  met  a  messenger  near  Wells' 
old  saw-mill,  who  told  us  that  mother  Orr  was  dying,  and  I  and  wife 
and  daughter  Nancy  went  on  immediately  over  to  the  Cove.  We  found 
her  insensible,  and  she  lingered  until  the  following  morning  at  two 
o'clock,  when  she  died  at  the  age  of  si.vcty-two  years,  and  was  buried  at 
Three  Springs,  that  same  day,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

It  was  that  summer  of  1839  that  the  second  brick  kiln  was  burnt, 
and  on  the  20th  of  August  the  masons  and  bricklayers  began  work, 
and  the  brick  work  of  the  main  house  as  well  as  the  wash-house  was  all 
finished  by  October  30th.  The  house  was  L  shaped,  being  forty  feet 
in  front  by  si.vty  feet  on  the  side,  the  front  with  the  hall  door  facing  the 
south,  although  the  west  side  with  dining-room  and  kitchen  doors  was 
always  used  as  the  front  of  the  house.  This  was  owing  to  the  fact  that 
I  had  always  intended  to  change  the  road  past  the  house  to  run  to  the 
south,  but  it  was  never  done.  I  carefully  sorted  myself  all  the  brick 
that  went  into  the  house,  and  the  very  best  and  smoothest  were  put  into 


264  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1840. 

the  front,  but  that  side  of  the  house  was  not  often  seen,  as  it  fronted 
really  on  the  garden.  The  house  contained  four  large  rooms  and  a 
wide  hall  down  stairs,  with  a  porch  and  pantry  along  the  eastern  side 
of  the  dining-room  and  kitchen,  and  there  were  four  rooms  up-stairs. 
Joseph  and  David  attended  to  the  farm  work,  while  Robert  and  the 
hired  man,  James  Hanlon,  made  the  mortar  and  attended  the  masons, 
and  son  John,  now  nine  and  a  half  years  old,  hauled  all  the  brick  that 
went  into  the  house  in  a  cart,  driving  the  Nell  mare.  I  was  usually  at 
the  kiln  to  load  the  brick,  while  Robert  would  be  at  the  house  to  dump 
the  cart  for  John.  The  chief  bricklayer  was  William  Thompson,  who 
had  his  hands  employed,  and  the  chief  carpenter  was  John  Walker. 
The  house  was  shingled  that  fall,  and  the  following  winter  the  floors 
were  laid.  Most  of  the  flooring  was  laid  by  myself,  while  Walker  was 
employed  with  the  finer  carpenter  work.  The  plastering  of  the  house 
was  done  by  Lewis  Cooper  the  summer  of  1840,  with  whom  I  contracted 
to  do  the  work  for  the  sum  of  $80. 

At  last  the  new  brick  house  was  all  finished,  and  we  moved  into  it  on 
Friday,  September  25,  1 840,  and  the  old  house  was  always  after  that 
used  for  a  shop  and  meat  house,  and  for  other  convenient  purposes. 

While  we  were  still  living  in  the  old  house  my  fifth  son  and  eleventh 
child  was  born  at  four  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morning,  February  13, 
1840,  and  he  was  a  fine  hearty  lad.  In  honor  of  the  Whig  candidate 
for  President  at  the  coming  fall  election,  he  was  immediately  named 
William  Henry  Harrison ;  and  when  a  few  Sabbaths  afterwards  this  son 
was  presented  before  the  pulpit  for  baptism  by  the  Rev.  Henry  G. 
Comingo,  in  the  presence  of  the  gazing  congregation,  and  his  father 
audibly  pronounced  his  name,  an  envious  feeling  ran  through  the 
bosom  of  all  the  so-called  Democrats,  who  were  all  professed  enemies 
of  General  Harrison. 

THE    HARRISON    CAMPAIGN. 

The  Presidential  campaign  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1840  was 
the  most  exciting  ever  witnessed  in  our  country,  William  Henry  Har- 
rison being  the  Whig  candidate,  and  Martin  Van  Buren  the  Democratic. 
John  Tyler  was  the  candidate  for  Vice-president  on  the  ticket  with  Har- 
rison. 


1840.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  265 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  Harrison  and  Van  Buren  had  been  the  opposing 
candidates  during  the  campaign  of  1836,  and  Harrison  was  defeated,  the 
Whigs  were  the  more  determined  that  he  should  be  successful  this  time. 
He  was  familiarly  known  as  "  Tippecanoe,"  on  account  of  his  defeat  of 
the  Indians  in  November,  181 1,  at  a  place  called  Tippecanoe,  in  what 
was  afterwards  included  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  The  most  enthusiastic 
Whig  meetings  were  held  all  over  the  land,  and  they  were  attended  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  people  who  listened  to  the  issues  of  the 
campaign  discussed  by  the  orators  of  the  day. 

There  were  monster  processions  in  which  they  hauled  around  small 
log  cabins  representing  the  early  home  of  Harrison,  and  cider  barrels 
representing  the  hard  cider  which  was  supposed  to  be  the  delight  of  the 
old  farmers  and  pioneers.  But  tlie  most  remarkable  thing  to  be  seen 
during  such  meetings  was  an  enormous  wooden  ball  some  twenty  feet  in 
diameter,  which  was  rolled  everywhere  over  the  country  to  represent 
that  the  Whig  cause  was  rolling  on  to  certain  success.  This  ball  was 
well  contrived  and  well  constructed  by  a  man  named  Coyle,  and  it  was 
marked  off  with  geographical  representat^ins.  It  was  made  in  Cumber- 
land, Maryland,  and  was  rolled  out  along  the  National  road  to  Wheeling, 
and  it  then  went  rolling  on  throughout  all  the  western  country.  At  these 
meetings  many  were  the  campaign  songs  that  were  sung,  and  son  David 
was  very  often  called  upon  to  ride  in  the  wagons  and  help  with  the  sing- 
ing, as  he  had  a  good  voice,  and  if  he  heard  a  song  once  he  could  sing 
it  again.     As  the  ball  was  rolled  along  they  would  sing : 

"  This  is  the  ball  that's  rolling  on 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too." 

The  greatest  mass  meeting  ever  held  at  any  time  in  Steubenville,  oc- 
curred on  Wednesday  July  29,  1840,  when  Tom  Corwin  addressed  the 
Whigs.  A  few  days  previous  to  this  meeting  I  was  waited  upon  by  a 
committee  from  Steubenville,  who  desired  me  to  furnish  a  Harrison  pole 
for  the  occasion,  from  the  top  of  which  the  United  States  flag  might  be 
seen  waving.  I  went  with  the  committee  and  showed  them  a  fine  hickory 
that  I  had  selected  for  the  purpose,  and  when  it  was  cut  down  and  meas- 
ured it  was  found  to  be  105  feet  high,  and  this  pole  they  took  to  town 
and  set  up  in  the  public  square  with  the  flag  on  it. 


266  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1840. 

The  day  for  the  great  demonstration  arrived,  and  I  took  my  whole 
family  to  town  to  witness  it,  except  that  we  left  Nancy  and  Jane  at  home 
to  keep  house,  and  while  we  were  gone  they  went  over  to  the  Ben  Hart 
hill  towards  town,  thinking  they  might  be  able  to  see  something.  But 
they  could  not  see  down  into  the  town,  and  yet  they  could  distinctly 
hear  the  great  noise  and  shouting  of  the  demonstration.  The  Whigs 
came  flocking  into  town  from  all  quarters  by  the  thousands,  and  delega- 
tions came  from  Wellsburg  and  Wheeling  and  all  the  surrounding 
regions,  and  the  Democrats  fearing  the  influence  of  such  a  Whig  de- 
monstration organized  an  opposition  meeting,  so  that  there  were  two  pro- 
cessions crowding  the  streets. 

It  was  not  long  after  I  arrived  until  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were 
gathered  at  the  crossing  of  Fourth  and  Market  Streets,  and  about  this 
time  Printer  Wilson  came  out  among  the  crowd  selling  small  pictures  of 
Harrison  for  twelve  and  a  half  cents  each.  I  purchased  two  of  them, 
and  pinned  one  to  the  left  lapel  of  my  dress  coat,  and  the  other  I  gave 
to  my  tenant  and  work-hand  James  Hanlon,  and  I  pinned  it  for  him  on 
his  coat.  • 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF   EXAMPLE. 

In  the  course  of  the  day,  after  I  had  heard  Tom  Corwin's  speech  of 
about  two  hours,  which  kept  the  crowd  riveted  to  the  spot,  I  went  into 
the  crowd  of  Democrats  to  hear  their  speaker,  who  was  R.  M.  Johnson, 
of  Kentucky. 

I  had  not  been  long  in  that  crowd  when  a  large  Scotch-Irishman  came 
up  beside  me,  and  seeing  my  Harrison  badge,  asked  me  if  I  was  not 
afraid  to  wear  the  picture  of  Harrison  in  that  crowd.  I  replied  that  I 
was  not,  "  for,"  said  I,  holding  up  a  large  Buckeye  cane,  "  the  man  that 
would  dare  to  take  that  picture  off  my  coat  would  feel  the  weight  of  that 
cane  well  laid  on."  "  Well,  faith,"  said  he,  "  I'll  put  mine  on  again,"  and 
suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  he  took  the  picture  from  his  vest  pocket, 
and  pinned  it  on  his  coat  again,  and  thus  he  found  the  force  of  example 
to  be  a  great  thing. 

This  reminds  me  of  the  experience  of  old  Sam  McClain,  as  he  related 
it  to  old  John  Williams,  and  Williams  told  it  to  me.  "  Example,  ex- 
ample, Misther  Williams,  example  is  a  great  thing!    When  the  paper  was 


1840.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  2G7 

passing  from  seat  to  seat  in  church,  to  raise  funds  for  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, it  was  handed  to  Misther  Sherrard  first,  and  I  determined  in  my 
own  mind  that  I  would  put  down  as  much  as  Misther  Sherrard,  thinking 
that  he  would  put  down  not  more  than  a  dollar,  and  behold !  Misther 
Williams,  when  the  paper  came  to  my  pew,  I  saw  that  Misther  Sherrard 
had  put  down  three  dollars,  and  I  could  not  go  back  on  my  own  word 
to  myself,  and  so  I  put  down  three  dollars  too.  I  tell  you,  Misther  Wil- 
liams, example  is  a  great  thing." 

At  this  great  meeting  that  day  there  was  a  large  canoe  to  represent 
the  victory  of  Harrison  in  i8i  i.  This  was  mounted  on  a  wagon  coupled 
long,  and  in  it  were  thirty-two  young  girls  all  dressed  in  white,  and  they 
were  all  good  singers,  singing  Whig  songs,  and  this  wagon  was  drawn 
by  six  iron-gray  horses,  and  made  a  fine  appearance.  The  log  cabins 
were  mounted  on  wagons  drawn  by  four  good  horses,  and  on  the  same 
wagon  would  be  seen  one  or  two  cider  barrels  ;  but  the  object  that  drew 
general  attention  that  day  was  the  great  ball,  that  the  Whigs  kept 
rolling  on. 

After  I  had  listened  for  some  time  to  the  Democratic  speech  in  that 
crowd  I  left  and  met  my  wife  in  the  place  where  we  had  appointed,  and 
we  proceeded  on  our  way  homeward.  As  we  came  past  the  parsonage 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  we  found  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Comingo 
standing  in  their  own  door,  and  as  it  was  now  growing  towards  evening 
they  gave  us  a  pressing  invitation  to  come  in  and  partake  of  some  re- 
freshments, but  we  excused  ourselves  thanking  them  and  telling  them 
that  we  had  found  the  Whig  latch-strings  generally  out  that  day.  So  we 
bade  them  good  evening,  and  came  on  home,  tired  enough,  and  there 
awaited  the  return  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  our  family;  and  a  number  of 
our  old  neighbors  around  Smithfield  and  Mclntyre  came  up  that  evening 
and  staid  all  night  with  us. 

The  result  of  the  election  that  fall  was  that  Harrison  was  elected  by 
the  largest  majority  that  any  President  ever  received,  he  receiving  234 
electoral  votes  to  60  for  Van  Buren.  Harrison  was  inaugurated  March 
4,  1 84 1,  and  died  a  month  later,  when  Tyler  the  Vice-president  came 
into  office  and  went  back  on  the  Whig  party  that  elected  him,  by  giving 
himself  over  to  the  Democrats. 

We  had  been  completely  deceived  in    him,  but  what  better  might  we 


268  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1S41. 

have  expected,  when  he  was  a  strong  Jackson  man  for  years,  until  1839, 
when  he  saw  the  tide  of  pubHc  opinion  turning  in  favor  of  the  Whigs, 
and  he  concluded  that  he  could  make  capital  of  it  by  turning  in  name  to 
the  Whigs,  and  by  his  speeches  so  well  worded  he  completely  deceived 
every  Whig  who  heard  him.  We  all  had  turned  in  and  voted  for  our 
new  Whig  friend,  but  we  did  so  to  our  sorrow,  for  after  he  came  into 
office,  we  found  just  as  we  did  in  later  years  with  Andrew  Johnson,  that 
we  had  elected  a  traitor,  and  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing. 

The  fall  of  1841  my  brother-in-law  Joseph  Kithcart  was  running  for 
the  Ohio  Legislature  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  On  a  certain  day  in 
September  I  was  down  in  town  attending  court,  and  I  met  my  old  friend 
Nathaniel  Crawford,  and  invited  him  to  come  up  with  me  and  stay  all 
night.  Joseph  Kithcart  was  also  there,  and  he  was  to  come  home  with 
us  if  he  could  get  through  his  business  in  time.  On  an  occasion  of  a 
Whig  political  meeting,  when  Robert  Wilson  the  editor  was  making  a 
speech,  Joseph  Kithcart  being  present,  took  occasion  to  contradict  some 
statements  of  Wilson  after  he  had  finished,  and  this  so  pleased  the  Dem- 
ocrats that  they  made  him  their  candidate,  and  he  was  elected  that  fall, 
but  I  could  not  vote  for  him. 

SARAH'S     ILLNESS. 

It  now  becomes  necessary  for  me  to  record  the  sad  affliction  that  fell 
upon  our  family  in  the  serious  illness  of  our  little  daughter  Sarah  at  the 
age  of  five  years  and  six  months,  when  she  was  stricken  with  paralysis 
from  which  she  never  recovered  so  as  to  be  able  to  walk. 

It  was  on  Thursday,  July  7,  1842,  when  she  was  first  taken  ill.  It 
seems  that  some  time  during  the  forenoon  of  that  day  Elizabeth  went  to 
look  for  the  geese  which  had  wandered  away,  and  she  took  her  little 
sister  Sarah  along  with  her,  who  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  heartiest 
and  brightest  of  all  the  children  of  our  family.  They  started  out  and 
went  over  past  the  tenant  house,  and  down  past  Pryor's  house,  and 
so  on  down  the  run  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  towards  town,  and  so 
on  round  up  home  again,  and  on  the  way  they  waded  through  the 
water  of  the  run  several  times.  The  probability  is  that  the  little  girl 
was  overheated  and  exhausted  by  the  long  walk,  and  the  wading  through 
the  cold-water  gave  her  a  chill,  but  of  this  none  of  us  ever  thought  at 


1842.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  269 

the  time.  After  she  had  gone  to  bed  that  night,  she  woke  up  crying, 
and  complaining  of  her  head,  and  her  mother  found  tliat  she  had  con- 
siderable fever.  The  next  morning  she  could  move  neither  hand  nor 
foot  nor  head.  She  was  bathed  with  warm  whisky,  which  was  thoroughly 
rubbed  all  over  her,  and  she  was  put  to  bed  to  sweat  and  sleep.  The 
next  day,  the  gth,  she  was  brought  into  the  sitting-room,  where  I  and 
mother  and  Mrs  Oliver  were  sitting,  and  she  was  supported  between  the 
little  girls  Jane  and  Susan,  but  Sarah  walked  very  stiff,  and  her  whole 
frame  seemed  to  be  affected  with  the  palsy,  and  this  was  the  last  that 
she  ever  walked.  The  best  medical  skill  of  the  day  was  employed, 
and  for  months  every  possible  remedy  was  tried,  but  all  to  no  pur- 
pose. 

In  the  course  of  time  she  reg.iined  the  use  of  all  the  upper  part  of  her 
body,  with  her  hands,  and  all  the  stiffness  left  her  neck,  but  from  that 
9th  day  of  July  she  never  had  the  least  use  of  her  lower  limbs  from  the 
hip-joint  down  to  her  feet  and  toes,  although  her  body  grew  and  her 
hands  and  arms  became  quite  strong,  so  that  she  could  use  them  with  a 
great  deal  of  facility,  and  her  mind  was  always  very  bright  and  active, 
and  she  was  all  her  life  the  most  talented  of  all  my  children. 

As  she  grew  in  years  she  was  always  remarkably  cheerful,  and  the 
light  and  centre  of  attraction  to  all  the  family,  and  so  thoughtful  was 
she  of  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  others,  that  no  one  would  ever 
think  of  her  as  being  herself  afflicted  except  as  they  would  see  that 
she  could  not  walk.  She  was  able  to  move  herself  around  the  house, 
and  could  readily  go  up  and  down  stairs  by  using  the  banisters  with 
her  hands,  which  were  strong. 

In  her  youth  I  got  for  her  an  arm  chair  and  put  casters  on  it, 
and  with  this  she  was  able  to  push  herself  all  around  the  house,  but 
in  after  years  her  brother  John  had  an  arm  chair  made  for  her  with 
large  wheels  on  the  sides,  and  a  small  one  at  the  back,  and  with  this  chair 
she  could  go  with  great  comfort  and  pleasure  all  around  the  house, 
and  even  out  through  the  yard.  From  that  time  onward  she  was 
never  without  such  wheeled  chair  of  the  latest  and  best  pattern,  which 
made  her  life  more  comfortable  and  happy.  She  enjoyed  company, 
and  was  a  great  favorite  everywhere,  and  often  went  away  visiting, 
and  was  always  very  regular  in  her  attendance  at  church,  her  brothers 


270  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1843. 

William  or  Thomas,  or  her  brother-in-law,  Joseph  Hill,  carrying  her 
to  the  carriage,  or  from  the  carriage  into  the  church. 

One  of  her  chief  pleasures  was  the  cultivation  of  flowers,  and  a 
large  space  in  the  garden  was  set  apart  for  her  use,  and  here  every 
favorable  day  in  the  summer  forenoons  she  might  be  found  working 
among  her  flowers,  which  were  the  wonder  and  delight  of  all  the 
friends  who  came  to  visit  us ;  and  during  the  winter  the  house  was 
filled  with  pot-plants  which  she  kept  over  the  winter. 

She  was  a  great  reader,  and  few  persons  were  better  informed  on  all 
general  subjects  than  she,  while  she  was  able  to  express  herself  in  writ- 
ing with  great  facility,  and  wrote  many  letters  to  her  friends,  although 
her  hand  was  not  steady.  Her  right  hand  and  arm  always  remained 
weaker  than  the  left.  In  conversation  she  was  always  sprightly  and 
entertaining,  and  her  company  was  much  enjoyed. 

SON  d.wid's   marriage. 

David  was  the  first  of  my  children  to  get  married,  and  he  was  now  two 
years  and  a  half  past  his  majorit)',  when  one  day  at  the  dinner-table  he 
announced  to  us  all  that  he  was  going  to  be  married,  and  on  July  4, 
1843,  he  married  Catharine  M.  Welday,  daughter  of  Isaac  Welday,  who 
lived  about  four  miles  west  of  our  place. 

(David  has  himself  given  me  some  account  of  his  own  personal  his- 
tory, which  I  insert  just  here,  as  it  gives  a  better  account  of  the  wedding 
and  infare  than  anything  I  have  in  my  possession. — T.  J.  S.) 

DAVIDS   PERSONAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  On  the  1st  day  of  April,  1833,  my  father  and  family  moved  from 
Mclntyre  to  Sugar  Hill  Farm.  It  was  a  beautiful  day;  all  nature  seemed 
bright,  and  one  thing  rare  at  that  time  of  year  was  to  see  some  of  the 
trees  looking  green  from  the  bursting  of  the  buds.  When  we  got  set- 
tled then  the  work  began  in  earnest,  and  no  let  up  summer  or  winter, 
except  a  few  days  at  school  in  the  old  log  school-house  at  the  close  of 
1833,  and  two  months  the  first  of  1834.  Well  do  I  remember  how  hard 
farming  did  go  in  those  days,  and  corn  hoeing  was  hardest  of  all. 

"  Father  would  have  his  five  oldest  children — Mary  Ann,  Joseph, 
myself,  Elizabeth   and    Robert — all   out  hoeing  the  corn  and  potatoes. 


1843.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  271 

Our  hoes  were  rude  and  heavy,  and  dull,  too,  and  Robert,  the  youngest, 
always  thought  that  he  had  the  hardest  row  and  must  be  helped.  We 
would  get  tired  of  this,  and  Joe  and  I  would  box  his  ears  to  hurry  him 
up,  and  if  father  was  not  there  Robert  would  often  lie  down  between  the 
rows  and  play  with  a  little  dog  we  called  i^isop.  We  would  then  cuff 
his  ears  again,  and  he  would  then  run  to  the  woods,  calling  .^sop  after 
him,  and  would  hunt  ground  squirrels  and  birds.  Time  rolled  on,  and 
we  grew  up  to  be  men  and  women,  and  many  were  the  parties  we  had, 
and  apple-cuttings,  often  five  evenings  in  the  week  ;  but  Saturday  eve- 
ning boots  and  shoes  must  be  blacked  ready  for  Sunday-school  and 
church.  Until  I  was  twenty-one  years  old  I  was  required  to  go  to  church 
with  the  family,  but  after  that  I  would  saddle  my  horse  and  ride  to 
various  places  to  church,  and  get  to  see  my  young  acquaintances,  for 
the  country  girls  and  their  society  was  what  I  wanted. 

"  On  July  4,  1843,  I  was  married  by  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Comingo  to  Miss 
Catharine  M.  Welday,  daughter  of  Isaac  Welday. 

"  My  brothers  and  sisters — Joseph,  Robert,  Mary  Ann  and  Elizabeth 
— were  present  on  the  occasion.  The  wedding  was  a  large  one,  and 
after  the  ceremony  and  the  dinner  were  over  the  company  all  repaired 
to  the  orchard  to  spend  an  hour  or  two  on  the  green  grass.  In  the 
meantime  brother  Robert,  who  had  been  attending  school  at  the 
Academy  in  Steubenville,  climbed  up  into  the  top  of  an  apple  tree,  and 
there  delivered  an  oration  to  the  boys  and  girls,  which  was  much  ap- 
plauded by  the  company.  The  next  morning  after  breakfast  we  mounted 
our  horses,  twenty-two  couples  in  all,  with  Henry  Welday,  a  cousin  of 
the  bride,  and  sister  Elizabeth  in  front,  and  the  groom  and  bride  next, 
and  thus  we  rode  four  miles  to  Sugar  Hill.  There  my  good  mother  and 
sisters  had  prepared  a  bountiful  infare  dinner,  which  was  spread  out  on  a 
long  table  on  the  porch,  to  which  the  party,  with  other  invited  guests,  to 
the  number  of  sixty-five  or  seventy  in  all,  did  ample  justice.  In  the  eve- 
ning, soon  after  dark,  the  sound  of  music  was  heard  in  the  road  in  front 
of  the  house,  and  all  soon  realized  that  it  was  a  serenade  or  a  belling 
party.  After  the  serenade  Amos  lams,  who  was  one  of  the  guests,  and 
the  fiddler  for  all  that  region,  got  out  his  fiddle  and  tuned  it  up,  and  the 
young  people  began  to  dance,  but  father  took  his  stand  in  the  door  be- 
tween the   dining-room  and  parlor,  and  after  the  first  set  was  over,  in  a 


272  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1844. 

firm  voice  explained  that  he  was  a  church  member,  and  subject  to  the 
rules  of  the  church,  and  therefore  could  not  allow  any  more  dancing  in 
his  house,  but  he  said  he  would  be  glad  to  hear  more  music  from  the 
fiddle.  However,  if  we  could  not  dance,  we  all  had  a  good  time  that 
evening.  Well,  on  the  6th  day  of  July,  the  wedding  and  infare  over,  I 
found  myself  with  a  wife  and  no  home. 

"  But  I  had  made  arrangements  with  my  uncle,  David  A.  C.  Sherrard, 
to  go  and  live  with  him  and  farm  his  place  in  Fayette  County,  Pa.  I 
did  go  there  and  stayed  two  months  and  ten  days,  and  helped  my  uncle 
put  in  his  fall  crop. 

"  But  thinking  it  best  to  seek  a  home  for  myself  in  the  West,  we 
returned  to  Sugar  Hill,  and  to  Cross  Creek,  to  my  wife's  father's.  After 
returning  home,  I  asked  my  father  if  he  would  give  me  a  piece  of  his 
Sandusky  County  land,  knowing  that  he  had  two  quarter  sections  out 
there,  and  also  knowing  that  he  was  indebted  to  me  for  labor  for  two 
years  and  a  half  since  I  was  of  age.  He  said  that  if  I  wanted  to  go  out 
there,  he  would  give  me  one-half  of  either  quarter.  I  took  his  offer,  and 
during  the  winter  I  dug  coal,  and  got  brother  Joseph  to  haul  it,  and  I 
traded  it  for  a  wagon  and  harness,  and  also  other  articles  with  which  to 
keep  house.  In  the  spring  of  1844  father  said  that  if  I  would  help  on 
the  farm  to  get  in  the  oats  and  corn,  he  would  go  with  sie  to  Sandusky, 
and  show  me  the  land,  and  we  would  commence  a  clearing ;  for  it  was 
all  timbered  land.  We  left  home  on  the  27th  of  May,  and  made  some 
visits  with  relatives  on  the  way,  and  arrived  at  my  new  place,  two  miles 
west  of  what  is  now  the  town  of  Fremont,  on  June  1st.  We  worked 
away  at  clearing  until  June  21st,  and  then  returned  home,  and  I  helped 
father  with  his  harvest.  On  July  10,  1844,  my  first  child  was  born  at 
father's,  and  we  called  her  Laura  Ann.  On  the  4th  day  of  September  I 
set  out  with  my  wife  and  child  for  our  new  home  in  Sandusky  County. 
Brother  John,  then  a  boy  of  fourteen  years,  came  with  us  one  mile  west 
of  Cadiz,  with  a  good  strong  horse  to  help  us  over  the  hilliest  part  of 
the  road,  and  on  the  12th  we  arrived  safe  with  our  precious  load,  and 
now,  after  forty-five  years  of  life  in  Sandusky  County,  I  thank  God  for 
his  goodness  to  me  and  niy  family. 

"  I  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  first  wife  with  the  birth  of  her  third 
child  in  1847,  and  in    1848  I  married  again,   Narcissa  Grant,  and  have 


1845.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  273 

raised  a  family  of  ten  children  in  all.  Of  these,  nine  are  living,  and  all 
are  married  except  one,  and  that  the  youngest.  I  purchased  from  father 
the  other  half  of  the  quarter  section  of  land,  so  that  my  farm  consisted 
of  the  full  quarter  section." 

THE   YOUNGEST   CHILD    BORN. 

It  was  on  Tuesday,  February  25,  1845,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, that  my  sixth  son,  and  twelfth  and  last  child,  was  born.  He 
weighed  at  birth  eleven  and  three-quarter  pounds,  and  was  from  the 
first  always  an  unusually  healthy  child.  As  it  was  now  five  years  since 
the  last  baby  in  the  family,  we  all  took  especial  interest  in  this  one,  and 
the  other  children  were  greatly  delighted. 

We  called  him  Thomas  Johnson  for  our  family  physician,  Dr.  Thomas 
Johnson,  of  Steubenville,  who  for  the  past  three  or  four  years  had  taken 
the  place  in  our  family  of  old  Dr.  Leslie.  He  was  a  full  cousin  of  the 
mother  of  my  wife,  Jane  Hindman,  and  had  settled  to  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  our  town.  Thus,  on  account  of  the  relationship,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  he  was  our  family  physician,  my  wife  desired  to  have  this 
cliild  named  for  him.  Accordingly,  on  Sabbath,  November  16,  1845,  I 
and  wife  took  ihe  child  Thomas  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Steubenville,  where  we  had  been  members  since  we  came,  the  spring  of 
1833,  and  he  was  baptized  Thomas  Johnson  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Henry  G.  Comingo. 


Here  closes  the  history  as  written  in  the  language  and  e.xpressions  of 
Robert  A.  Sherrard. 

The  remaining  pages  of  this  volume  of  family  history  are  written  by 
the  editor  of  father's  manuscripts,  his  youngest  son,  Thomas  Johnson 
Sherrard. 

18 


274  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1845. 


SKCTION     XV. 

1 845- 1 890. 

LATER  EVENTS   AND   PERSONAL  SKETCHES. 

(THE   EDITOR   HERE    TAKES    UP   THE   HISTORY.) 

SINCE  there  is  now  sufficient  evidence  to  the  reader  of  the  fore- 
going pages  that  I  have  been  born  into  the  world,  I  hasten  to 
explain  at  the  very  first  opportunity  why  I  have  found  it  neces- 
sary to  drop  the  use  of  father's  language  in  recording  the  history,  and 
from  this  time  onward  write  it  in  my  own  language. 

The  earlier  writings  of  father  were  largely  from  personal  recollection, 
and  the  events  of  family  interest  were  given  with  more  fullness  and 
historical  connection. 

His  later  writings  are  simply  a  compilation  from  his  daily  journals, 
which  he  kept  continuously  for  almost  forty  years  before  his  death.  This 
compilation  was  the  delight  of  his  leisure  hours  during  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life,  and  in  this  work  he  simply  took  up  the  old  journals  day  by 
day  and  year  by  year,  and  rewrote  the  main  facts,  using  here  and  there 
what  struck  his  fancy,  and  adding  his  own  recollections  occasionally  as  a 
commentary.  This  compilation  is  contained  in  the  large  brown  volume 
which  he  gave  to  John,  which  goes  over  the  journals  from  1837  to  185 1, 
and  in  the  large  black  volume  which  he  gave  to  me ;  and  this  brings  the 
compilation  of  the  journals  down  to  the  close  of  1859.  This  was  as  far 
as  he  was  able  to  get  in  his  work,  the  last  being  written  the  fall  of  1873, 
only  a  few  weeks  before  his  death. 

But  in  this  he  did  not  attempt  anything  like  a  connected  history,  and 
many  events  of  family  interest  were  entirely  forgotten  or  left  out.  And 
then,  this  compilation  of  the  journals,  extending  from  1837  to  1859, 
covers  about  nine  hundred  closely-written  foolscap  pages,  far  beyond  the 
space  allotted  for  this  volume.  Therefore,  for  the  remaining  pages  of 
this  history  I  shall  be  obliged  to  get  my  facts  from  other  sources  as'  well 
as  father's  writings. 


1846.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  275 

MARRIAGE   OF   ELIZABETH  SHERRARD. 

On  Thursday,  May  7,  1846,  sister  Elizabeth  was  married  to  Joseph 
Kithcart,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Jefferson  County,  O. 

I  have  no  recollection  of  the  event,  as  I  was  only  about  fourteen 
months  old,  but  as  it  was  the  first  wedding  in  the  family  at  home,  it  was  a 
most  interesting  occasion,  and  the  young  people  of  the  neighborhood 
were  invited  in.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev. 
H.  G.  Comingo,  and  the  time  was  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Joseph 
Kithcart  already  had  a  home  in  Mount  Pleasant,  and  tliey  went  to  house- 
keeping there  on  the  following  Tuesday,  the  12th  of  May.  Here  they 
lived  in  comfort  and  happiness  for  ten  years,  and  their  children,  John 
Albert,  Robert  Sherrard,  Henry  Comingo,  and  Mary,  were  born  in 
Mount  Pleasant.  On  April  i,  1856,  they  moved  out  to  a  farm  called 
"  Briar  Ridge,"  about  three  miles  from  town,  where  their  children, 
Emma,  Elizabeth  Jane,  and  Anna  Katharine,  were  born.  Again,  on 
April  I,  1862,  they  moved  down  on  Short  Creek  to  the  old  Dilworth 
Mill,  formerly  called  the  Bayless  Mill,  and  there  the  two  youngest  chil- 
dren were  born,  Jessie  Bertha  and  Martha  Ellen.  Then,  on  April  i, 
1873,  they  moved  up  to  the  Gill  Farm,  a  place  very  beautifully  situated 
just  on  the  western  edge  of  the  town  of  Mount  Pleasant.  Here  Joseph 
and  Elizabeth  still  live  in  the  peaceful  comforts  and  happiness  of  a  re- 
tired life,  surrounded  by  their  broad  acres,  keeping  open  and  hospitable 
house,  and  blessed  with  the  love  and  honor  of  numerous  children  and 
grandchildren.  Their  children  are  nearly  all  married,  only  Jessie  and 
Ella  remaining  at  home  at  the  present  time.  Little  Emma  was  taken 
away  from  earth  when  only  a  few  days  old,  while  Jennie  died  September 
20,  1886,  after  a  brief  but  happy  married  life,  leaving  her  husband, 
Watson  Walker,  and  two  little  children,  who  have  been  brought  up  by 
their  grandmother  Kithcart. 

The  children  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Kithcart  have  all  become  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  while  both  John  and  Sherrard  are 
ruling  elders,  and  very  efficient  men  in' the  churches  where  they  live. 

John,  the  eldest  son,  is  a  successful  lawyer  in  Steubenville,  O.,  while 
Sherrard  is  engaged  in  business  in  Maryville,  Tenn.  Henry  is  a  farmer 
near  Mount  Pleasant,  O. 


276  THE  SHEER ARD  FAMILY.  [1846-1889. 

MARRIAGE   OF   ROBERT  SHERRARD,  JR. 

There  was  a  third  marriage  in  the  family  when  Robert,  a  young  man 
of  twenty-three,  took  to  himself  a  wife  in  the  person  of  Miss  Sarah 
Anne  Salmon,  of  Steubenville,  on  July  2,  1846.  Mary  Anne,  Joseph 
and  Nancy  were  all  invited  in  to  the  wedding  that  day,  and  the  cere- 
mony was  performed  by  the  Rev.  C.  C.  Beatty,  at  the  house  of  the 
bride's  parents.  Robert  and  his  wife  started  off  on  a  wedding  trip  to 
Pittsburgh,  and  returned  home  to  Steubenville,  where  for  a  time  they 
boarded  at  Mr.  Salmon's  until  Robert  finished  his  new  brick  house 
which  he  built  near  the  corner  of  Third  and  Dock  Streets.  Here  they 
began  housekeeping,  and  lived  in  that  place  for  many  years,  until  they 
removed  to  New  York  City,  in  1870. 

However,  at  my  request,  brother  Robert  has  writen  an  account  of 
his  own  life,  and  I  shall  just  here  give  way,  and  let  him  tell  his  own 
story. 

ROBERT   SHERRARD,  JR., — SKETCH   OF   HIS   OWN    LIFE. 

"  The  fall  of  1840  I  became  a  student  in  Grove  Academy  in  Steuben- 
ville, which  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  John  W.  Scott,  D.D.,  and  I 
walked  in  and  out  from  home  every  morning  and  evening.  At  this 
school  I  continued  until  September,  1845,  e.Kcept  that  at  certain  intervals 
I  was  engaged  in  teaching  school,  amounting  in  all  to  twenty-one 
months. 

"  My  first  school  was  for  three  months  at  the  Franklin  school-house, 
in  the  Abram  Scott  district,  one  mile  beyond  Centre  Church;  next  for 
three  months  at  the  Red  school-house,  at  Smiley  Johnson's,  one  mile 
west  of  La  Grange  on  the  road  to  New  Alexander ;  then  at  Stark's 
school-house  for  three  months ;  after  that  for  si.x  months  at  New 
Alexander;  and  another  period  of  six  months  at  home  at  Hill's  school- 
house. 

"In  October,  1845,  I  began  to  read  law  with  Mason  &  Moody,  but 
for  the  first  ten  months  I  was  also  engaged  in  teaching  for  Dr.  Scott  in 
Grove  Academy.  I  remained  in  the  office  of  Mason  &  Moody  until 
October  4,  1848,  when  I  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Ohio. 


1846-1889]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  211 

"The  fall  of  1848  I  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Steubenville ; 
in  1850  formed  a  partnership  with  ex-Judge  John  H.  Miller,  and  in 
1 86 1,  on  motion  of  Hon.  T.  D.  Lincoln,  I  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  was  sworn  in  by  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  then  Chief  Justice.  iVIy  law  partnership  continued  until  June, 
1863,  when  I  bought  out  the  Mechanics'  Saving  Bank  and  commenced 
banking  under  the  firm  name  of  R.  Sherrard  &  Co.,  Thomas  L.  Jewett 
being  my  partner.  This  continued  until  October,  1865,  when  I  was 
induced  reluctantly  to  change  into  the  First  National  Bank  of  Steuben- 
ville, which,  as  its  president,  I  continued  to  manage  at  a  salary  of  $2000 
until  the  fall  of  1868. 

"  Having  become  satisfied  that  I  could  earn  more  money  for  myself 
than  to  continue  the  management  of  a  National  Bank,  I  notified  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  my  desire  to  be  relieved  as  president  of  said  bank. 
A  meeting  of  the  stockholders  was  called  in  July  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  continuing  the  bank,  as  at  that  time  there  did  not  seem  to  be 
any  one  connected  with  it  who  was  willing  to  take  my  place.  Having 
sold  the  furniture,  fixtures,  vault  and  safes  to  said  bank  in  1865,  I  pro- 
posed to  allow  for  the  same  the  price  paid  in  1865,  and  further  agreed 
to  close  up  said  First  National  Bank  without  cost  to  its  stockholders. 
That  was  unanimously  agreed  to  by  its  stockholders,  and  on  October  i, 
1868,  the  First  National  Bank  was  closed.  The  firm  of  Sherrard, 
Mooney  &  Co.  was  formed  and  commenced  doing  business  on  that  day, 
which  has  continued  until  the  present,  1889,  I  retaining  a  majority 
interest  in  said  firm.  I  closed  up  the  affairs  of  the  First  National  Bank, 
paying  to  its  stockholders  in  addition  to  the  capital  stock,  which  was 
$150,000,  a  premium  of  $60,000,  besides  ten  per  cent,  dividends  annually 
while  the  bank  was  doing  business. 

"  In  1850  I  was  appointed  United  States  Deputy  Marshal  for  the  17th 
Congressional  District  of  Ohio,  and  took  the  census  in  eight  of  the 
townships  of  Jefferson  County.  On  September  28th,  of  that  year.  Con- 
gress passed  a  bill  to  grant  the  soldiers  of  the  war  of  18 12  a  bounty  in 
land  ;  forty  acres  for  a  service  of  three  months,  eighty  acres  for  six 
months,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  for  a  service  of  nine  months 
and  upwards,  and  the  benefits  were  extended  to  the  widows  and  minor 
children  of  such  soldiers  as  had  died. 


278  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1846-1889. 

"I  took  advantage  of  the  circumstances,  and  while  around  taking  the 
Census  I  made  inquiry  for  soldiers  and  their  widows  and  children,  and 
after  I  had  completed  the  work  of  taking  the  Census,  I  made  appoint- 
ments throughout  Jefferson,  Columbiana,  Carroll  and  Harrison  Counties 
in  Ohio;  Brooke  and  Hancock  Counties  in  Virginia;  and  Washington 
County  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  result  was  that  I  made  applications  for 
about  four  hundred.  Congress  passed  a  supplemental  bill  March  4, 
1855,  to  equalize  the  bounties  so  as  to  give  all  soldiers  of  the  War  of 
1812  and  the  Mexican  War,  and  their  widows  and  minor  children  160 
acres.  Under  that  Act  I  renewed  the  applications  and  procured  160 
acres  for  all  for  whom  I  had  made  applications  who  were  entitled. 

''  I  bought  many  of  the  Land  Warrants  and  located  the  same  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa,  commencing  the  fall  of  1851  and  continuing  to  do  so  until  the 
Land  Warrants  began  to  be  exhausted  in  1858.  In  this  way,  selling  the 
lands  thus  located  from  time  to  time,  buying  and  locating  during  the 
period  from  1851  to  1858,1  was  enabled  to  make  a  very  good  start, 
financially. 

"  In  the  fall  of  1861  I  was  elected  to  the  Ohio  State  Senate  from  the 
counties  of  Jefferson  and  Columbiana,  and  served  one  term  of  two  years. 
I  was  appointed  on  four  of  the  regular  Committees  in  the  Senate,  as 
Chairman  of  the  Railroad  Committee,  Judiciary,  School  and  Peniten- 
tiary Committees.  I  declined  re-election  to  the  Senate  for  the  reason  of 
other  pressing  engagements  connected  with  starting  in  the  banking  busi- 
ness in  1863. 

"  In  1868  I  was  induced  to  become  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the 
17th  Congressional  District  of  Ohio,  which  was  then  composed  of  the 
counties  of  Jefferson,  Carroll,  Stark  and  Columbiana.  There  were  two 
candidates  in  Stark  and  one  in  Columbiana,  and  I  was  defeated  for  the 
nomination  by  two  votes.  Judge  Jacob  Ambler  of  Columbiana  being  the 
successful  candidate. 

"  I  was  appointed  Financial  Agent  of  the  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati  and 
St.  Louis  Railway  Company,  with  the  office  in  New  York  City,  and  re- 
moved with  my  family  to  New  York  April  i,  1870.  I  organized  The 
New  York  Transfer  Company  in  September,  1870,  with  a  capital  of  $600,- 
000,  and  was  elected  its  Treasurer,  and  in  1873  was  elected  its  President 
and  Treasurer,  which  positions  I  held  until  1878. 


184G-1889.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  279 

"At  that  time  I  was  compelled  to  resign  and  return  to  Steuben- 
ville  to  take  charge  of  the  Steubenville  Coal  and  Mining  Company, 
which  was  left  without  any  interested  party  to  manage  it  on  the 
death  of  Colonel  George  W.  McCook,  late  in  the  fall  of  1877,  he  and 
myself  owning  the  majority  of  the  interest  in  said  Company.  I  was 
elected  President  of  the  Company,  which  position  I  still  hold,  and  on 
the  death  of  Dr.  Thomas  Johnson,  June  18,  1879,  I  was  elected  Presi- 
dent of  the  Steubenville  Gas,  Light  &  Coke  Company,  and  have  ever 
since  continued  as  such  President. 

"I  assisted  in  organizing  the  Steubenville  Pottery  Company  in  1881, 
which  has  proved  to  be  successful,  giving  at  this  time  employment  to 
over  260  persons,  with  a  product  yearly  of  over  $175,000  and  in- 
creasing. 

"  P"or  seventeen  years  I  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education 
of  Steubenville,  and  resigned  this  position  prior  to  my  removal  to 
New  York  in  1870. 

"  From  1853  to  1865  I  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trust  of  the 
College  Endowment  Fund,  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  of  Wheeling, 
which  Board  managed  the  financial  affairs  of  Washington  College. 
This  institution  was  under  the  care  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
I  acted  as  Treasurer  of  this  Board  in  receiving,  loaning  and  investing 
its  funds.  In  1864  P.ev.  Charles  C.  Beatty,  D.D.,  of  Steubenville, 
made  the  offer  of  $50,000  as  an  endowment,  on  condition  of  the 
union  of  the  two  Colleges  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  then  located 
only  seven  miles  apart,  at  Washington  and  Canonsburg  respectively. 
This  union  was  accomplished  the  spring  of  1865,  an  Act  of  the  Legis- 
lature having  been  passed  March  4,  1865,  providing  for  a  Board  of 
Trustees  for  the  united  College,  and  in  this  Act  I  was  named  as  one 
of  the  number.  I  have  continued  to  act  as  a  Trustee  up  to  the 
present  time,  making  it  a  rule  to  be  present  at  all  the  meetings  of 
the  Board. 

"On  July  2,  1846,  I  was  married  to  Sarah  A.  Salmon,  and  by  this 
union  three  children  were  "born:  Emma  Virginia,  April  2,  1847,  and  she 
was  married  to  Henry  C.  Elliot,  of  New  York,  December  3,  1868;  Wil- 
lie, July  22,  1850,  and  he  lived  only  about  a  year;  and  Henry  Comingo, 
August  25,  1857.     He  has   never  married,  but  resides  with   his  father. 


280  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1840-1889. 

and  is  in  the  bank  of  Sherrard,  Mooney  &  Co.  My  wife  died  in  New 
York,  November  7,  1870,  after  a  long  and  severe  affliction.  I  remained 
a  widower  until  December  13,  1 881,  when  I  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Katie,  eldest  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Thomas  Johnson,  of  Steubenville. 
By  this  union  three  children  have  been  born :  Thomas  Johnson,  in 
1882;  Robert  Stanton,  in  1884,  and  he  died  August  5,  1889;  and  Mary 
Catharine,  born  in  18S7.  On  moving  to  New  York,  I  sold  my  house 
on  Third  Street,  and,  on  returning  to  Steubenville,  I  boarded  for  a  few 
years,  until  I  purchased  the  Morris  property,  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  . 
and  Washington  Streets;  and,  after  enlarging  it,  we  moved  into  it  in 
September,  1883,  and  continue  to  occupy  it  as  our  home  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time. 

"During  the  fall  of  1878  I  traveled  through  Europe  and  as  far  as 
Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land  in  company  with  my  son,  Henry  C,  and  the 
late  Rev.  William  M.  Grimes,  D.D.  We  left  New  York  August  1st, 
and  returned  home  November  5th,  and  on  my  return  I  occasionally  lec- 
tured on  my  experiences  abroad.  Immediately  after  my  second  marriage 
I  visited  Europe  a  second  time  in  company  with  my  wife.  We  left  New 
York  December  17th,  1881;  traveled  through  England,  Scotland  and 
Ireland ;  .«pent  twenty-one  days  in  Paris ;  thence  through  PVance  to 
Lyons,  Marseilles,  Nice,  Monte  Carlo  to  Genoa,  Rome,  Naples;  back  to 
Rome;  thence  to  Florence  and  Venice;  across  through  Austria  to  Ger- 
many; and  after  spending  three  weeks  through  Germany,  we  returned 
by  Paris,  London,  Ireland  and  Scotland,  arriving  in  New  York  early  in 
April.  1882. 

"  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861,  I  took  an  active  part 
in  raising  the  first  companies  which  went  to  form  the  First  and  Second 
Regiments  from  Ohio. 

"  I  presented  myself  to  the  examining  surgeon,  but  was  not  accepted 
on  account  of  heart  trouble,  which  had  afflicted  me  from  the  time  I  was 
fourteen  years  of  age.  By  the  call  of  the  President,  of  August  4,  1862, 
providing  for  a  draft  of  three  hundred  thousand  militia  for  immediate 
service,  I  was  appointed  as  Commissioner  of  Drafting  for  Jefferson 
County  by  the  Governor  of  Ohio.  It  was  my  duty  to  superintend  the 
drafting,  hear  and  determine  the  excuses  of  those  claiming  e.xemption, 
and  this  duty  I  performed,  and  I  also  served  as  chairman  of  the  commit- 


1846-1889.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  281 

tee  under  an  order  from  the  War  Department  for  the  readjustment  of 
accounts  between  the  State  and  General  Government  under  the  calls  of 
1 86 1  and  1862,  which  commission  was  dated  August  23,  1864.  The 
statement  required  the  deficiencies  and  excesses  by  districts  in  the  State 
of  Ohio,  as  adjusted  in  the  office  of  the  Provost  Marshal  General  of  the 
United  States  under  all  the  calls  from  1861  to  July  i,  1864,  and  to  per- 
form that  work  required  much  time,  labor  and  investigation.  I  was 
appointed  to  pay  all  bounties  to  volunteers  from  Jefferson  County,  Ohio, 
and  did  pay  on  regular  pay-rolls  more  than  ;^ioo,000  in  sums  from 
1^12.50  to  ^50  to  each  volunteer,  having  to  equalize  finally,  so  that  each 
should  receive  equal  sums  of  $50 

"When  Morgan's  Raid  occurred  in  July,  1863,  under  his  Rebel  force, 
which  entered  Ohio  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State,  over  two 
thousand  strong,  their  course  was  through  the  southern  and  eastern 
tiers  of  counties,  and  they  reached  Harrison  County  on  Friday. 

"  General  Brooks,  in  command  of  the  United  States  forces  at  Pitts- 
burgh, sent  an  order  to  me  at  Steubenville  to  take  charge  of  two  regi- 
ments, which  were  sent  down  on  the  Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh  Railroad, 
and  have  them  placed  along  the  Ohio  River,  to  prevent  Morgan  and  his 
Rebel  forces  from  crossing  the  river  into  West  Virginia,  which  was  evi- 
dently his  purpose.  One  regiment  was  stationed  at  the  mouth  of  Rush 
Run,  and  the  other  at  Portland,  at  the  mouth  of  Short  Creek.  Morgan, 
learning  through  his  scouts  that  these  regiments  were  awaiting  him, 
crossed  over  Short  Creek  below  the  town  of  Mount  Pleasant,  and  came 
on  through  Smithfield  and  as  far  as  New  Alexander. 

"  Having  sent  out  many  men  to  keep  watch  of  his  movements,  I 
directed  the  regiment  at  Portland  to  move  up  to  La  Grange  (now  Bril- 
liant), opposite  to  Wellsburg,  and  the  regiment  at  the  mouth  of  Rush 
Run  I  directed  to  move  up  to  the  mouth  of  Cross  Creek,  near  the  town 
of  Mingo,  three  miles  below  Steubenville.  When  Morgan  and  his  force, 
which  was  now  reduced  to  about  seven  hundred  men  with  horses, 
learned  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  make  their  escape  through  either 
of  the  valleys  referred  to,  he  changed  his  plans;  and  when  he  reached 
the  mouth  of  Mclntyre  Creek,  which  empties  into  Cross  Creek  three 
miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  latter,  he  turned  up  Cross  Creek  one  mile, 
burning  a  railroad  bridge  there,  and  soon  took  to  the  ridge,  and  came 


282  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1846-1889. 

on  to  Wintersville,  four  miles  west  of  Steubenville.  There  a  slight 
skirmish  took  place,  he  being  attacked  on  his  right  by  a  large  com- 
pany of  good  riflemen,  who  went  out  from  Steubenville,  and  were  joined 
by  many  more  from  his  rear.  But  an  open  fire  from  Morgan's  men  in 
the  direction  of  the  Steubenville  men  soon  silenced  the  latter,  and  re- 
sulted in  fatally  wounding  a  young  son  of  James  Parks,  of  Steubenville, 
who  died  from  the  loss  of  blood  before  medical  aid  reached  him. 

"  I  directed  the  two  regiments  to  move  on  up  the  river,  one  to  guard 
the  mouth  of  Island  creek  and  the  streams  leading  to  the  river  above 
that  point,  the  other  to  guard  the  mouth  of  Big  Yellow  Creek.  While 
this  was  being  done,  Morgan  and  his  forces  marched  on  through  Rich- 
mond, and  down  the  town  fork  of  Yellow  creek  to  its  mouth,  which  was 
reached  by  daylight  on  Sunday  morning. 

"  There  learning  that  there  was  no  prospect  of  crossing  the  Ohio  at 
the  mouth  of  Yellow  Creek,  they  turned  their  course  up  Yellow  Creek,  and 
on  reaching  the  county-line  of  Jefferson  and  Columbiana  Counties,  about 
three  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Town  Fork  which  empties  its  waters 
into  Yellow  Creek,  and  not  far  from  the  town  of  Salineville,  Morgan  and 
his  forces  were  surrounded,  and  surrendered  to  General  Shackleford. 

"  General  Brooks  directed  that  Morgan  and  his  men  should  be  sent  to 
Steubenville,  and  I  was  directed  by  a  general  order  from  General  Brooks 
to  take  charge  of  all  horses  and  property  captured,  and  send  Morgan 
and  his  men  as  prisoners  to  Camp  Chase  at  Columbus. 

"  I  corralled  the  horses  taken  from  Morgan  in  the  fair  ground  below 
Steubenville,  and  began  the  work  assigned,  of  deciding  as  to  the  owner- 
ship of  horses  and  other  property  which  Morgan  and  his  men  had  taken 
on  their  long  line  of  march.  Claims  were  made  in  the  course  of  a  few 
days  by  rightful  owners  of  the  property  to  my  satisfaction,  and  I  directed 
the  property  to  be  delivered  accordingly,  and  before  the  end  of  one  week 
I  had  delivered  to  its  owner  every  horse  taken  from  Morgan,  except  two 
which  were  not  claimed,  and  they  were  handed  over  to  the  United  States 
Government  at  Pittsburgh. 

"Since  1856  I  have  been  a  Director  in  the  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati  &  St. 
Louis  Railway  Company,  and  during  the  past  two  years  I  have  spent 
much  time  and  labor  as  chairman  of  a  committee  on  the  reorganization 
of  the  finances  of  that  company. 


1846-1889.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  283 

"  In  1863  I  received  the  Honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from 
Washington  College.  On  November  10,  1858,  I  was  elected  a  Deacon  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville,  and  was  ordained  to  that 
office  on  the  i6th  day  of  the  same  month.  I  was  a  delegate  from  the 
17th  Congressional  District  of  Ohio  to  the  National  Convention  at  Phil- 
adelphia which  nominated  Col.  John  C.  Fremont,  and  was  on  the  com- 
mittee from  Ohio  to  wait  on  him  in  New  York,  where  he  was  then  living, 
to  inform  him  of  his  nomination. 

''  I  was  delegate  from  the  same  district  in  1S64  at  the  National  Con- 
vention at  Baltimore,  which  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  for  a  second 
term.  In  the  convention  in  Chicago  in  1880  which  nominated  James  A. 
Garfield.  I  was  alternate,  and  I  was  delegate  to  the  convention  which  met 
in  Chicago  in  1888,  which  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison.  I  was  at  the 
first  Republican  Convention  which  met  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1854,  when 
the  Hon.  John  Sherman  was  chosen  President  of  that  convention,  and  I 
have  been  his  supporter  ever  since. 

"Written  December  17,  1889." 

My  brother  Robert's  daughter  Emma  was  educated  at  Steubenville 
and  Norristown,  and  then  spent  a  year  in  Mrs.  Sylvanus  Reed's  school 
in  New  York  City,  after  which  she  traveled  for  a  few  months  in  Europe 
with  Mrs.  Reed. 

Since  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Elliot,  in  186S,  they  have  always  resided 
in  New  York,  and  they  have  three  children,— Robert  Sherrard,  who  is 
at  present  a  student  in  Columbia  College,  New  York  City ;  Lillie 
Beatty  and  Harry  Stanton. 

Robert's  son,  Henry  C,  was  educated  in  the  Military  School  at  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  after  which  he  spent  the  summer  of  1878  traveling  in 
Flurope  with  his  friend.  Will  Demorest,  of  New  York.  In  August  of 
that  year  Harry  met  his  father  in  Paris  and  they  traveled  together 
through  Egypt  and  Palestine.  Since  then  he  has  been  in  business  in 
the  bank  in  Steubenville.  He  has  been  one  of  the  most  energetic  and 
enthusiastic  of  the  young  Republicans  of  Ohio,  and  has  been  a  member 
of  Governor's  Foraker's  staff  during  the  two  terms  of  his  office. 

My  brother  Robert's  little  boy,  Robert  Stanton,  who  died  of  scarlet 
fever  the  summer   of  ■1889,   at  the  age  of  five  years,  was  a  very  bright 


28i  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1818-1889. 

and  attractive  child  ;  so  eager  and  energetic  in  all  his  movements,  and 
he  gave  great  promise  of  becoming  a  strong  and  vigorous  man. 

MARRIAGE   OF    MARY    ANNE    SHERRARD. 

There  was  a  fourth  marriage  in  the  family,  the  second  wedding  at 
home,  when  Mary  Anne  and  Joseph  W.  Hill  were  married  October  lo, 
184S.  The  ceremony  was  performed  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  H.  G  Corningo,  in  the  presence  of  many  of  the 
relatives,  friends  and  neighbors.  Joseph  Kithcart  and  Elizabeth  and 
Aunt  Martha  Sharon  had  come  down  from  Mount  Pleasant,  and  Uncle 
Robert  Lee  and  Aunt  Betsy,  and  their  three  daughters,  Mary,  Nannie 
and  Lizzie,  all  came  over  from  where  they  lived,  near  Cross  Creek 
Village.  Father  says  in  his  record  of  the  occasion  that  "  it  was  by  and 
with  the  consent  of  all  parties  on  both  sides,  the  bride  and  groom  being 
both  old  enough  not  only  to  choose  for  themselves,  but  also  to  keep 
house  and  to  manage  the  concerns  of  a  young  rising  generation,  should 
they  be  richly  blessed  in  that  particular.  The  groom  was  thirty-seven 
and  the  bride  thirty-one  years  old." 

I  have  no  distinct  recollection  of  the  event,  but  as  I  was  then  three 
and  a  half  years  old,  I  can  just  remember  it.  Tradition  tells  that  during 
the  ceremony  I  was  held  up  by  brother  Robert  as  I  stood  on  a  bureau ; 
and  Robert  tells  that  the  next  day  when  the  infare  party  started  off, 
I  ran  off  after  them  up  through  the  field  as  hard  as  I  could  go  crying  at 
the  top  of  my  voice  for  mother,  and  he  ran  after  me  and  brought  me 
back,  for  the  party  were  already  out  of  sight.  This  incident  my 
brothers  and  sisters  have  often  related  with  great  amusement.  The  only 
trouble  was  that  mother  had  forgotten  to  give  me  her  usual  kiss  in  the 
hurry  of  starting,  and  this  nearly  broke  my  heart. 

Mother  tells  me  to-day,  December  28,  1889,  that  it  was  her  invariable 
custom  to  tell  me  whenever  she  was  going  away,  and  to  kiss  me,  and 
then  I  never  said  a  word,  but  was  good  and  cheerful  and  happy  about 
her  going,  but  on  this  occasion  she  somehow  forgot  it. 

The  infare  was  given  at  the  house  of  James  Hill,  where  his  brother 
Joseph  had  always  made  his  home,  and  here  Joseph  and  Mary  Anne 
made  their  home  during  the  following  winter,  e.xcept  that  for  a  short 
time  they  took  a  wedding  trip  up  to  Uncle  David's  in  Fayette  County. 


1848-1889.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  285 

The  spring  of  1S49  they  went  to  housekeeping  in  the  house  where 
George  Hill  had  lived,  as  he  had  moved  that  spring  down  to  Mingo. 
On  this  farm,  about  one  mile  from  Sugar  Hill,  Joseph  Hill  and  Mary- 
Anne  continued  to  live  for  many  years  in  the  greatest  comfort  and  hap- 
piness until  his  death,  February  22,  1877.  Here  their  five  children  were 
born, — Rosamond  C,  Elizabeth  J.,  Martha  S.,  Mary  and  Robert  Sher- 
rard, — and  they  are  all  living  at  the  present  time,  the  last  of  1889. 
Martha  was  married  to  the  Rev.  David  R.  Kerr  June  12,  1879,  and  they 
have  four  children.  Their  home  was  first  at  Jamestown,  Pa.,  then  at 
Mercer,  Pa. ;  afterwards,  for  some  years,  in  Omaha,  Neb.  Dr.  Kerr  is 
now  President  of  Bellevue  College,  Bellevue,  Neb.  Mary  was  married 
to  Jesse  M.  Bennett,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Ohio,  on  October  14,  1880,  and 
their  home  is  there  at  present.  Robert  married  Mary  Mears,  of  Steu- 
benville,  June  30,  1885,  and  they  now  have  three  children. 

After  the  death  of  Joseph  W.  Hill,  in  1877,  the  family  continued  to 
live  on  the  old  homestead  and  Robert  carried  on  the  farm.  But  at  the 
time  of  his  marriage,  in  1885,  Robert  purchased  the  farm,  and  his 
mother  and  sisters  moved  into  SteubenviUe,  where  with  her  daughters, 
Rosamond  and  Elizabeth,  she  now  lives  in  her  own  house  which  she 
purchased,  which  is  situated  on  Fourth  Street  just  below  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church.  Elizabeth,  however,  is  at  home  only  during  her 
vacation,  as  she  is  a  teacher  in  Washington,  Pa.,  in  the  Female  Semi- 
nary. 

Joseph  W.  Hill  became  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  SteubenviUe  May  12,  1848;  he  continued  his  membership  there  until 
the  organization  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  of  SteubenviUe  by 
Dr.  Beatty,  on  Friday,  June  20,  1873,  when  he  and  his  family  went  into 
this  new  organization.  He  was  elected  a  Ruling  Elder  in  that  church, 
and  continued  to  serve  in  that  office  most  acceptably  until  his  death. 
His  wife  and  family  then  returned  to' the  membership  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  they  still  belong  there  in  the  church  where  Mary 
Anne  first  united.  May  24,  1834.  He  had  been  elected  an  elder  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  SteubenviUe  January  11,  1873,  and  he  was 
ordained  on  the  19th  of  the  sam;  month,  and  continued  to  fill  that  office 
for  four  months,  until  the  organization  of  the  Third  Church. 


286  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1851-1890. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    NANCY  SHERRARD. 

"On  Friday,  March  28,  1851,  I  graduated  at  the  Steubenville  Female 
Seminary,  and  two  weeks  later  I  went  to  Westmoreland  County,  Pa.,  to 
take  charge  of  a  Select  School  in  the  bounds  of  the  Unity  congregation, 
of  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gillette  was  pastor.  He  met  me  at  the  nearest 
point  on  the  Northern  Pike,  which  leads  from  Pittsburgh  through 
Greensburg,  and  I  remember  that  he  informed  me  that  he  had  that  day 
performed  the  marriage  ceremony  between  Mr.  Culbcrtson  Orr  and  Miss 
Nancy  Smith.  My  school  consisted  of  seventeen  young  girls,  and  dur- 
ing my  five  months  stay  in  that  neighborhood  I  boarded  with  Mr.  George 
Smith  and  his  sister  Sarah,  who  afterwards  became  Mrs.  Benjamin  Craig 
of  New  Alexandria.  Mr.  George  Smith  was  married  the  fall  of  1851  to 
Miss  Margaret  Orr  of  Clarion  County,  a  sister  of  Mr.  Culbertson  Orr. 
Before  the  close  of  my  school  at  Unity,  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  Hill  of 
Blairsville  engaged  me  to  teach  in  the  Blairsville  Seminary,  which  had 
been  opened  the  first  time  the  spring  of  1851.  After  the  close  of  my 
school  the  last  of  September,  I  went  over  to  Fayette  County  to  visit 
uncle  David  Sherrard.  There  I  was  met  by  my  father  and  little  brother 
Thomas,  and  I  drove  home  with  them  in  the  carriage,  arriving  Octo- 
ber lOth. 

"On  October  31,  1851,  I  left  home  again  and  started  to  Blairsville. 
As  there  was  at  that  time  no  railroad  from  Steubenville  to  Pittsburgh,  I 
went  that  distance  on  the  new  steamboat  '  Winchester,'  and  the  fare  was 
fifty  cents,  including  board,  as  there  was  at  that  time  strong  competition 
between  two  rival  steamboats.  From  Pittsburgh  I  went  on  a  canal  boat 
to  Blairsville.  During  that  winter  I  went  out  to  attend  the  wedding  of 
Miss  Sarah  Smith,  and  I  took  my  first  ride  on  a  railroad,  going  on  the 
■  new  Penn.sylvania  Central  Railroad  from  Blairsville  to  Beatty's  Station. 
This  railroad  had  first  been  opened  i5p  for  travel  the  fall  of  185  i.  In  the 
Seminary  at  Blairsville  I  taught  two  years  and  a  half.  For  the  first 
year  the  school  was  held  in  a  temporary  frame  building,  but  in  the  fall 
of  1852  the  Rev.  Mr.  Shepley  took  charge  of  the  school  as  Principal, 
and  we  were  transferred  to  the  new  building  which  is  still  occupied  as 
the  Blairsville  Female  Seminary. 

"  Mr.   and   Mrs.   Shepley    were   very    successful   in  building    up  that 


1851-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  287 

school,  and  the  number  of  boarders  in  1853-4  was  fifty.  After  teaching 
three  years,  I  thought  it  would  be  well  for  me  to  rest  awhile,  and  I  re- 
mained at  home  for  a  time,  teaching  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  South  Public 
School  in  Steubenville.  During  the  summer  Session  of  1855  I  accepted 
a  position  as  teacher  in  the  Steubenville  Female  Seminary,  of  which  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Beatty  were  still  Principals.  I  have  always  regarded  it  as  one 
of  the  greatest  privileges  of  my  life  to  teach  with  them. 

"  To  their  friendship,  which  lasted  through  life,  I  have  owed  many  of 
the  best  positions  which  I  have  held  as  teacher  in  different  schools. 
The  experience  I  had  there  as  a  teacher  has  ever  since  been  to  me  in- 
valuable. 

"During  the  summer  of  1856  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nevius,  Principal  of  the 
Sayre  Female  Institute,  Lexington,  Ky.,  offered  me  a  position  as  teacher 
in  that  school.  As  the  salary  was  considerably  larger  than  that  which  I 
was  receiving  from  Dr.  Beatty,  I  consulted  him,  and  he  kindly  released 
me  from  my  engagement  with  him.  I  went  to  Lexington  in  September, 
1856,  and  remained  in  that  school  two  years.  In  1858  I  had  an  offer  at 
a  still  higher  salary  to  go  out  to  the  country  three  miles  from  Lexing- 
ton, in  the  very  centre  of  the  Blue  Grass  region,  and  teach  for  four  fami- 
lies. The  gentlemen  who  engaged  me  were  Mr.  Abram  Van  Meter,  Mr. 
Isaac  Van  Meter,  Colonel  Delph  and  Mr.  Viley.  I  taught  there  one 
year,  boarding  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Abram  Van  Meter,  and  attending  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Lexington,  in  which  Mr.  Van  Meter  was 
an  Elder.  I  had  attended  this  church  during  my  stay  at  the  Sayre 
Female  Institute.  My  life  and  experiences  at  Lexington  were  very 
pleasant,  as  I  made  many  warm  friends  whom  it  has  always  been  a 
pleasure  to  remember. 

"  The  fall  of  1859  I  went  to  Circleville,  Ohio,  and  taught  during  that 
winter  in  the  High  School  of  that  place,  my  brother  William  being  with 
me  at  school  there. 

"  We  returned  home  the  spring  of  i860.  That  summer  of  i860  Mr. 
Sayre,  of  Lexington,  finding  that  I  was  not  engaged  in  an}- school  duties, 
recommended  me  to  Mr.  Lycurgus  Johnson,  a  wealthy  planter  of  Lake 
Port,  Arkansas,  who  wished  a  private  instructor  for  his  children.  Miss 
Martha  Torrance,  of  New  Alexandria,  Pa.,  went  with  me,  and  she  taught 
two  children  in  the  family  of  Mrs.  Governor  Johnson,  one  mile  distant. 


288  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1851-1890. 

I  taught  four  children,  three  girls  and  one  boy.  The  plantation  of  Mr. 
Johnson  consisted  of  two  thousand  acres,  and  on  the  plantation  there 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty  slaves. 

"  That  summer  of  i860  they  had  raised  twelve  hundred  acres  of  cotton 
and  three  hundred  acres  of  corn.  In  the  family  of  Mr  Johnson  there 
were  seven  or  eight  house-servants.  He  had  a  well-trained  dining-room 
servant,  whom  he  had  bought  a  year  before,  who  was  valued  at  ,$1,700. 
Mr.  Johnson  had  bought  him,  his  wife,  and  a  child  three  years  old,  for 
the  sum  of  ^3,000.  Soon  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  spring  of 
1861,  we  thought  of  leaving  for  our  homes  in  the  North,  and  we  made 
preparations  to  leave  as  soon  as  possible  after  we  found  that  the  war  was 
about  to  become  a  terrible  reality.  I  have  always  been  glad  that  I  saw 
the  South  in  the  days  of  slavery,  and  also  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
the  inside  workings  of  Secession  during  that  winter.  We  left  Lake 
Port  on  a  Southern  boat,  but  when  we  arrived  at  Memphis,  the  captain, 
hearing  that  the  United  States  troops  were  at  Cairo,  111.,  decided  to  stop 
at  Memphis.  The  "  Queen  of  the  West,"  a  Northern  boat  bound  for 
Cincinnati,  coming  along  soon  after,  our  captain  placed  us  under  the  care 
of  the  captain  of  the  Cincinnati  boat,  and  we  passed  on  with  safety ;  not 
without  danger,  however,  as  we  were  fired  into  by  the  rebels  at  Ran- 
dolph, Tenn.  At  Cairo  we  saw  the  United  States  flag  for  the  first  time 
after  leaving  Lake  Port.  We  arrived  at  Steubenville  on  Tuesday,  April 
30,  1861. 

"  In  November  of  that  year  Dr.  Beatty  secured  for  me  the  position  of 
Vice-Principal  of  the  Bellewood  Seminary,  at  Anchorage,  Ky.,  twelve 
miles  from  Louisville.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Hill  was  Principal  of  this  school, 
and  I  remained  in  this  position  for  three  years.  In  1864  I  accepted  a 
Select  School  in  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  my  sister  Sue,  who  had  been  teach- 
ing in  Kentucky,  going  with  me.  We  had  a  very  delightful  year.  Our 
school  consisted  of  young  girls  from  ten  to  eighteen  years  of  age. 

"At  the  close  of  this  school  year  in  1865,  we  both  had  offers  to  go 
back  to  Kentucky  at  increased  salaries,  and  we  thought  best  to  do  so. 
I  returned  to  Bellewood  Seminary  the  fall  of  1865,  and  stayed  there  at 
that  time  for  one  year.  The  fall  of  1866  I  went  back  to  Fort  Wayne 
and  taught  one  year.  During  the  summer  of  1868  I  taught  in  the 
seminary  at  Steubenville,  the  Rev.  A.  M.  Reid,  Ph.D.,  being  at  that  time 


1851-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  -289 

Principal.  In  July  of  that  year  I  met  with  a  severe  accident  in  the 
spraining  of  mj'  ankle,  and  for  four  and  a-half  months  I  was  able  to 
walk  only  with  the  use  of  crutches.  This  summer  was  the  last  of  the 
summer  sessions  ever  held  in  Steubenville  Seminary,  and  during  that 
summer  I  roomed  with  Miss  Sarah  Brownson,  who  was  one  of  the 
teachers.  She  is  now  Mrs.  Henry  R.  Whitehill,  of  Deer  Lodge, 
Montana. 

"  My  niece  Emma  V.  Sherrard  having  been  married  to  H.  C.  Elliot,  of 
New  York  City,  my  brother  Robert  asked  me  to  come  and  make  my 
home  with  his  family,  which  at  that  time  consisted  of  himself,  his  wife, 
who  was  an  invalid,  and  his  son  Harry.  I  staid  with  them  in  Steuben- 
ville until  April  i,  1870,  when  we  removed  to  New  York.  For  the  first 
month  we  remained  with  Mr.  Elliot's  family  in  Brooklyn,  where  they 
were  then  living,  and  on  May  i,  1870,  we  all  removed  to  a  large  house, 
28  \V.  26th  Street,  New  York,  and  here  the  family  lived  for  several  years. 
In  the  fall  of  1S70  I  had  a  very  unexpected  offer  to  teach  in  the  Public 
School  of  Brooklyn  at  a  salary  of  $900  a  year.  This  I  accepted,  and  I 
taught  there  from  October,  1870,  till  July  i,  1871,  when  the  school  year 
closed.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  I  went  back  to  Bellewood  Seminary, 
near  Louisville,  and  remained  one  year. 

"  In  the  fall  of  1872  I  accepted  a  position  as  teacher  in  the  Steubenville 
Female  Seminary,  and  taught  there  two  years.  In  June,  1874,  I  was 
unanimously  elected  Principal  of  the  Washington  Female  Seminary  of 
Washington,  Pa.,  by  the  trustees  of  that  institution.  I  accepted  the  offer 
then  made,  and  soon  after  entered  upon  my  duties.  We  opened  the 
school  September  4,  1874,  with  Miss  Mary  McDonald,  of  Steubenville, 
as  Vice-Principal,  several  excellent  teachers,  and  about  eighty  pupils. 
Since  that  time  I  have  remained  in  the  Washington  Seminary  as  Principal. 

"  Our  school  has  steadily  increased  in  numbers,  as  our  catalogues  show. 
The  catalogue  of  1874-75  contains  the  names  of  loi  pupils  in  regular 
course;  that  of  1888-89  216  names.  My  niece,  Miss  Martha  S.  Hill, 
came  with  me  to  W'ashington  as  a  teacher.  She  remained  with  me  until 
the  spring  of  1879,  when  she  returned  home  to  Steubenville,  as  she 
expected  to  be  married  in  June  of  the  same  year  to  the  Rev.  David  R. 
Kerr.  My  two  nieces,  Mary  Kithcart  and  Jennie  H.  Sherrard  came 
with  me  to  W^ashington  as  pupils. 
19 


290  THE  SHERRARD  FAMfLY.  [18.51-1890. 

"The  former  graduated  in  1876,  and  the  latter  in  1877.  Jennie  Sher- 
rard  after  her  graduation  taught  for  me  two  years,  and  was  married  June 
24,  1879,  to  the  Rev.  J.  C.  R.  Ewing.  Jennie,  Anna,  Jessie  and  Ella 
Kithcart,  all  daughters  of  my  sister  Elizabeth,  afterwards  graduated  at 
this  seminary ;  also  my  niece,  Anna  R.  Sherrard,  now  the  wife  of  Oliver 
L.  Blachly,  M.  D.,  of  Sparta,  Pa.  My  niece  Mary  Hill  was  a  pupil  here 
two  years  but  did  not  graduate. 

"  There  are  now  in  the  seminary  three  of  my  nieces,  viz  :  Mary  F. 
Sherrard,  daughter  of  my  brother  John,  and  Virginia  and  May  C.  Sher- 
rard, daughters  of  my  brother  Thomas.  My  brother  David's  daughter 
Rose  was  here  at  the  seminary  for  a  few  months  some  years  ago.  His 
granddaughter,  Lottie  Mooney,  graduated  in  1889,  and  her  sister  Emma 
is  at  the  present  time  a  pupil  here. 

"  During  the  summer  of  1882  I  went  to  Europe  for  a  vacation  tour 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  L.  C.  Loomis  of  Washington,  D.  C.  On  this  trip 
I  was  accompanied  by  Miss  Harriet  H.  Campbell  of  Clarion,  Pa.,  (now 
Mrs.  Ross  Reynolds,  Jr.,  of  Kittanning,  Pa.)  and  a  young  lady  from 
Allegheny,  Pa. 

"  Dr.  Loomis  had  a  large  party  under  his  care,  and  we  made  many 
pleasant  acquaintances  during  this  trip.  We  visited  parts  of  Scotland 
and  England,  and  on  the  Continent  we  went  as  far  east  as  Vienna,  and 
as  far  south  as  Naples.  This  visit  to  Europe  was  peculiarly  delightful 
to  me,  as  it  was  my  first.  In  1886  I  took  another  trip  to  Europe,  being 
accompanied  this  time  by  ten  ladies.  We  were  again  under  the  care  of 
Dr.  Loomis,  and  we  visited  many  of  the  places  which  we  had  seen  upon 
our  former  trip. 

"  In  addition  we  visited  Turin  and  Lake  Maggiore  in  Italy,  and  Heidel- 
berg in  Germany.  It  was  a  renewed  pleasure  to  take  the  second  trip,  as 
I  saw  much  that  was  new  to  me  in  every  city  or  place  that  we  visited, 
and  my  pleasure  was  increased  at  seeing  again  what  I  had  seen  four 
years  before. 

"  My  mother  and  my  two  sisters,  Jane  and  Sarah,  came  to  Washington 
to  make  their  home  with  me,  after  my  brother  William's  death  in  1875. 
They  removed  here  from  Steubenville  in  October  of  that  year.  It  has 
added  much  to  my  comfort  to  have  them  as  members  of  our  seminary 
family.     My  sister  Sarah's   death   March   4,  1889,  left   a  vacancy  which 


1851-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  291 

could  not  be  filled.  She  had,  by  her  bright,  cheerful  disposition,  her 
sympathetic  nature,  and  her  strong  Christian  character,  combined  with 
her  comparative  helplessness  physically,  so  endeared  herself  to  the  mem- 
bers of  our  large  family  and  other  friends  here,  that  her  loss  was  very 
severely  felt. 

"  I  have  found  my  work  here  to  be  that  for  which  my  long  and  varied 
experience,  as  a  teacher,  and  in  other  relations  in  life,  had  fitted  me.  I 
have  found  here  use  for  all  the  knowledge  elsewhere  acquired.  It  has 
been  to  me  a  pleasant  work,  and  I  have  been  happy  in  my  surroundings. 

"  Miss  C.  C.  Thompson  has  for  several  years  been  my  efficient  assistant, 
and  is  now  vice-principal. 

"  I  have  always  felt  at  home  in  Washington.  The  cordiality  with  which 
I  was  received,  the  unvarying  kindness  of  the  people,  and  especially  the 
cordial  relations  always  existing  between  the  trustees  and  myself,  have 
contributed  to  this  end.  I  feel  that  I  owe  much  to  Mrs.  Hanna,  the 
former  principal  of  the  seminary,  because  of  her  establishing  the  school 
on  firm  Christian  principles. 

"  Her  wisdom  in  the  management  of  the  school,  and  her  success,  have 
made  possible  the  seminary  of  the  present. 

"  I  owe  very  much  to  the  friendship  and  support  of  the  friends  and 
former  pupils  of  Mrs.  Hanna." 

In  connection  with  sister  Nancy's  own  history,  I  here  insert  a  copy  of 
a  letter  which  she  wrote  to  father  from  Arkansas,  when  she  first  thought 
of  leaving  the  South  on  account  of  the  troubled  state  of  the  country. 

This  letter  I  found  recorded  in  father's  journal  under  date  of  Thurs- 
day, February  28,  1861,  as  he  had  that  evening  received  it. 

'"'  Point  Chicot,  Arkansas,  February  16,  1861. 
"  Dear  Father: 

"  To-day  is  Saturday,  and  I  have  closed  the  labors  of  the  week.  I  am  med- 
itating seriously  on  going  home,  for  I  do  not  feel  satished  to  stay  here  in  the  present 
state  of  the  country.  I  do  not  know  yet  how  soon,  but  indeed  I  begin  to  feel  uncom- 
fortable. People  down  here  are  strong  disunionists,  and  blame  everybody  else  for 
differing  from  them  even  in  slight  matters.  Yesterday  at  dinner  I  displeased  both 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  by  expressing  some  sentiments  with  regard  to  disunion  that 
did  not  meet  their  approval.  I  cannot  here  relate  the  conversation  at  large,  but  Mrs. 
Johnson,  turning  to  me,  said,  '  Miss  Sherrard,  there  are  a  great  many  good  people  in 
the  South.' 


292  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1850-1890. 

"  '  Yes,'  said  I,  '  and  it  is  a  pity  that  they  let  the  rascals  lead  them.'  Mr.  Johnson 
then  took  it  up,  and  said  that  I  took  a  great  deal  on  myself  to  call  them  all  rascals. 
He  said  I  had  called  '  us'  &c.  1  said  that  when  1  spoke  I  was  not  personal,  but 
meant  those  who  had  attempted  to  destroy  the  United  States  Government.  That 
made  matters  worse,  and  everything^  that  was  said  on  both  sides  was  only  worse  and 
not  better.  I  do  not  think  they  will  ever  forgive  me  for  my  talk  yesterday.  1  asked 
their  pardon  if  they  considered  it  personal,  and  that  is  all  I  am  going  to  do.  1  have 
listened  all  winter  to  having  all  northern  people  classed  together  as  the  compound  of 
all  villainy  that  could  be  possibly  put  together. 

"  There  is  a  point  where  forbearance  ceases  to  be  a  virtue,  and  that  point  is  reached. 
Now,  I  suppose  the  ne.xt  thing  they  will  think  I  am  an  Abolitionist,  and  if  they  do  not 
think  so  now,  they  will  miss  a  figure  or  two. 

"  They  will  never  have  a  better  friend  of  the  South  from  the  North  than  I  have 
been,  but  if  1  were  to  stay  here  till  my  head  was  grayer  than  Methuselah's  was,  they 
never  would  make  a  disunionist  of  me.  I  am  sorry  I  made  that  speech,  but  it  is  done 
and  it  can't  be  helped.  You  cannot  imagine  how  angry  they  both  were,  and  we  have 
always  been  such  good  friends  before.  I  suppose  Mr.  Johnson  will  think  I  went 
beyond  my  sphere,  which  is  to  teach  his  children,  and  not  to  talk  politics  with  him, 
which  is  undoubtedly  true.  I  wish  I  was  at  home,  where  1  could  talk  without  people 
getting  angry  about  what  I  say. 

"Affectionately,  your  daughter,  "Nancy  Sherr.a.rd." 


PERSONAL   HISTORY   OF  JOHN    HINDMAN   SHERR.\RD. 

At  my  request  my  brother  John  has  written  an  account  of  his  own 
life,  which  I  insert  at  this  point. 

"  When  I  was  nearly  twenty  years  of  age  I  desired  to  leave  the  farm  at 
Sugar  Hill  and  learn  a  trade.  My  father  gave  his  full  consent,  as  I  was  not 
yet  of  age,  and  I  left  home  February  4,  1850,  having  engaged  as  appren- 
tice with  the  firm  of  Harris  &  McDonald,  blacksmiths,  in  Steubenville. 
But  the  fall  of  185 1  I  was  taken  sick  with  a  fever,  and  after  my  recovery 
it  was  thought  best  to  give  up  my  plans  about  the  trade,  and  I  worked  at 
home  on  the  farm  the  summer  of  1852.  In  November,  1852,  I  began 
attending  the  High  School  of  Galloway  &  Buchanan,  in  Steubenville, 
and  boarded  at  home.  About  mid-winter  I  began  teaching  at  Hill's 
school-house,  and  continued  there  till  May,  1853,  when  I  started  to  col- 
lege at  Washington,  Pa.  I  had,  however,  engaged  with  William  Salmon 
to  meet  him  April  i,  1853,  at  Leavenworth  and  go  with  him  across  the 
plains  with  a  drove  of  cattle,  but  through  a  kind  Providence,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  a  loving  mother,  I  was  led  to  give  up  that  plan,  with   the  un- 


1850-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  293 

derstandiiig  that  I  would  go  to  school  for  one  year  only,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  I  should  go  to  Washington  College.  Everything  and  every 
person  was  strange  to  me  there,  and  as  I  was  to  stay  only  a  year  and 
take  a  partial  course,  it  was  very  difficult  to  decide  just  what  I  would 
better  study. 

"  At  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  Professors  I  took  up  Latin,  and  the 
next  November  I  took  up  Greek,  having  by  that  time  come  to  the  fixed 
determination  that  come  what  would  I  would  take  a  full  course.  I  was 
urged  to  this  by  my  brother  Robert  and  sister  Nancy,  both  of  whom 
had  had  a  liberal  education  and  knew  the  benefit  of  the  same. 

"  Through  the  kindness  of  Rev.  Dr.  Enoch  C.  Wines,  the  new  Pro- 
fessor of  Languages  in  Washington  College,  I  became  a  regular  Fresh- 
man. His  eldest  son,  Frederic  H  ,  was  in  that  class,  and  he  was  always 
a  warm  friend  of  mine.  I  soon  became  a  member  of  the  Washington 
Literary  Society,  and  in  1855,  I  became  a  member  of  the  Beta  Theta 
Pi  Fraternity.  There  was  no  chapter  of  that  Fraternity  in  Washington, 
but  I  went  over  to  Canonsburg  and  was  initiated  in  the  Gamma  Chapter, 
and  then  I  established  the  Nu  Chapter  in  Washington,  being  assisted  in 
this  by  W.  M.  Stewart.  We  then  received  Joseph  Waugh,  Watson 
Hughes,  George  Birch,  Will  Hanway  and  James  D.  Kerr  that  same  year. 

"  I  always  stood  fair  in  my  class  of  eighteen  members,  and  at  gradu- 
ation in  September,  1857,  I  stood  seventh,  and  was  put  on  commence- 
ment. I  had  been  allowed,  however,  by  the  Faculty  to  take  charge  of 
the  Cross  Creek  Village  Academy,  in  Washington  County,  Pa.,  in  May, 
1857,  and  to  graduate  with  my  class,  passing  successfully  the  final  exam- 
ination. At  that  Academy  I  had  some  fifty  students,  young  men  and 
young  women  in  every  grade  of  advancement. 

"  I  taught  there  five  months,  closing  the  last  of  September,  and  re- 
ceived tuition  fees  amounting  to  some  $250. 

"  And  now  comes  a  matter  which  I  should  have  mentioned  before,  how 
that  during  my  college  course  I  became  acquainted  with  Miss  Kizzie  N. 
Fulton,  whose  father,  Mr.  Abram  Fulton,  had  taken  charge  of  the  tem- 
perance hotel  in  Washington,  Pa.,  called  the  Fulton  House,  April  i,  1853, 
just  one  month  before  my  arrival  in  the  town.  I  did  not,  however,  make 
the  acquaintance  of  his  daughter  Kizzie  till  the  fall  of  1854.  In  March, 
1857,  her  father  and  family  removed  to  a  farm  in    Louisa  County,  Iowa. 


294  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1850-1890. 

There  we  were  married  October  13,  1857, — John  Hindman  Sherrard  and 
Kizzie  Newlon  Fulton. 

"  We  arrived  home  at  Sugar  Hill  on  the  15th,  and  our  reception  was 
the  following  day.  It  was  not  at  all  my  intention  then  to  study  for  the 
ministry,  but  to  make  teaching  my  life  work,  and  during  the  following 
winter  I  taught  the  Academy  at  Buffalo  in  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and 
the  summer  of  1858  I  was  on  the  farm  at  Sugar  Hill  for  the  most  of  the 
time,  although  I  was  for  a  time  employed  in  writing  in  my  brother 
Robert's  office  in  Steubenville. 

"  But  the  Lord  led  me  in  a  way  that  I  knew  not,  and  called  me  unmis- 
takably to  prepare  to  preach  the  gospel. 

"  A  daughter  whom  we  called  Jane  Hindman,  for  my  mother,  was 
born  to  us  July  17,  1858,  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  she  was  just  two  months 
old  when  we  went  to  Allegheny,  September  17,  1858,  and  I  entered 
Western  Theological  Seminary  as  a  student.  We  boarded  all  the  three 
years  of  my  course  there,  but  during  my  first  vacation  the  summer  of 
1859  I  had  charge  of  Callensburg  Academy  in  Clarion  County,  Pa.  I 
was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Steubenville  April  26,  i860,  and 
during  that  summer  of  my  second  vacation  I  had  a  position  as  teacher 
for  four  months  at  Miller  Academy,  Washington,  Guernsey  Co.,  Ohio,  and 
I  preached  frequently  during  the  summer.  On  July  13,  i860,  our  second 
daughter  was  born  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  we  named  her  Anna  Rachel. 
The  next  spring,  March  27,  1861,  [  graduated  in  a  class  of  46  from  the 
Western  Theological  Seminary,  being  one  of  seven  who  had  part  in  the 
closing  exercises.  The  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  now  of  Mount  Jackson, 
Pa.,  and  myself  represented  Dr.  Plumer's  Department,  Didactic  and 
Pastoral  Theology. 

"The  Lord  not  only  called  me  to  preach,  but  he  has  always  called  a 
people  to  hear  me.  My  first  charge  was  at  Rimersburg,  Clarion  Co.,  Pa., 
and  I  had  the  three  churches  of  Bethesda,  Oak  Grove  and  Middle  Creek, 
from  May,  1861,  to  February,  1867.  My  ordination  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Clarion  took  place  at  the  Bethesda  Church  at  Rimersburg,  September 
26,  1 86 1.  The  Lord  added  to  these  churches  such,  as  we  trust,  are 
saved.  While  living  in  Rimersburg  two  sons  were  born  to  us,  Charles 
Clinton  Beatty,  February  2,  1864,  and  John  Hughes,  May  19,  1866. 

"Charlie   was  taken   from   us  by  accidental   drowning  July  6,    1866. 


1850-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  295 

Early  in  1867  I  was  called  to  Bucyrus,  O.,  and  began  my  regular  work 
there  on  April  i,  1867,  and  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Marion 
the  same  month. 

"  While  here  my  work  was  blessed,  and  we  were  blessed  with  health 
and  prosperity,  and  had  many  kind  people. 

"The  congregation  bought  for  us  a  parsonage  just  beside  the  church 
March,  1868.  The  church  had  a  number  of  precious  revivals  during 
my  pastorate  at  Bucyrus  or  more  than  eleven  years,  but  the  most  won- 
derful was  the  winter  of  1872,  when  over  70  were  added  to  the  church, 
among  whom  were  our  own  beloved  daughters,  Jennie  and  Anna. 

"In  May,  1869,  I  represented  the  Presbytery  of  Marion  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  at  New  York,  and  also  the  Reunion  Assembly  in  Novem- 
ber of  that  year  at  Pittsburgh. 

"Three  children  were  born  to  us  in  Bucyrus:  Robert  Maurice, 
October  i,  1869;  Mary  Fulton,  July  18,  1871  ;  and  Elizabeth  Linn, 
February  25,  1874.  At  the  request  of  my  sister  Nancy  I  left  Bucj^rus 
August,  1878,  and  removed,  with  my  family,  to  Washington,  Pa.  There 
I  assisted  her  for  two  years  in  her  work  in  the  Washington  Female 
Seminary,  teaching  the  Senior  and  Junior  classes,  and  during  that  time 
on  Sabbath  days  I  supplied  the  church  of  Upper  Ten  Mile  at  Prosperity, 
Pa.,  ten  miles  south  of  Washington,  and  I  removed  my  family  to  that 
place  in  April,  1879. 

"While  living  at  Prosperity  our  eighth  and  youngest  child  was  born, 
July  27,  1879,  and  we  named  her  Helen  Ewing. 

"  It  was  also  during  our  life  at  Prosperity  that  two  marriages  occurred 
in  our  family:  our  eldest  daughter,  Jennie  Hindman  Sherrard,  was 
united  in  marriage  with  the  Rev.  J.  C.  R.  Ewing.  June  24,  1879,  and 
that  fall  they  went  out  to  India  as  missionaries,  where  they  have  been 
most  successful  in  their  work.  They  have  four  children  born  in  India : 
Eleanor,  Anna,  John  Sherrard  and  Margaret  Rhea.  Our  second 
daughter,  Anna  Rachel  Sherrard,  was  united  in  marriage  to  Oliver  M. 
Blachly,  M.D.,  of  Sparta,  Washington  County,  Pa.,  on  May  18,  1881, 
and  they  have  two  children,  Stephen  and  John  Sherrard. 

"The  fall  of  1882  I  was  called  to  Delphos,  Ohio,  and  removed  there 
in  November,  and  was  installed  over  that  church  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Lima  in  April,  1883.     The  work   there  was  always  pleasant  and   to  a 


296  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1851. 

good  degree  prosperous,  but  owing  to  so  many  removals,  and  the  town 
of  Delphos  being  intensely  Roman  Catholic,  I  gave  up  my  work  there 
in  October,  1888,  having  received  a  very  cordial  invitation  to  take 
charge  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Rockville,  Ind.  I  began  my  work 
there  October  21,  1888,  and  was  installed  December  12,  1889,  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Crawfordsville,  and  here  we  live  at  the  present  time  in 
great  peace,  comfort  and  prosperity. 

"Written  Januaiy  I,  1890," 

My  brother  John's  son,  Hughes,  is  living  in  Delphos,  O.,  while 
Maurice  is,  at  the  present  time,  a  Junior  in  Washington  and  Jefferson 
College,  and  Mary  is  a  pupil  in  the  Seminary  at  Washington.  Bessie 
and  Helen  are  at  home  in  Rockville,  Ind. 

DEATH    OF  JOSEPH    KITHCART,    SR. 

One  of  the  events  which  made  a  marked  impression  upon  our  family 
was  the  death  of  uncle  Joseph  Kithcart  in  Mount  Pleasant,  which  oc- 
curred May  8,  1851.  Father  had  visited  him  about  a  month  before,  and 
this  is  what  he  says  :  "  I  bade  Joseph  Kithcart  farewell,  and  I  felt  sad, 
knowing  that  I  should  see  that  brother-in-law  no  more  in  life,  for  I  had 
known  him  so  long  and  so  well  from  the  time  he  was  a  boy  twelve  years 
old  at  the  time  I  married  his  sister  Mary  January  25,  1816.  He  was  a 
man  of  gentle,  good-natured  disposition  from  a  school  boy  to  manhood, 
and  from  man's  years  till  his  death.  He  always  had  a  strong  attachment 
for  me  and  my  family,  and  it  was  the  last  visit  he  made  us  that  he  said 
to  my  present  wife,  Jane,  that  there  was  no  other  house  in  the  land  at 
which  he  could  be  so  much  at  home  and  make  so  free  as  he  could  at  our 
house,  which  he  said  was  more  like  his  own  house  to  him.  He  was 
always  welcome  to  my  house,  and  I  was  always  welcome  to  his,  and  we 
had  no  disputes  to  mar  our  peace  or  to  break  off  our  friendship." 

I  can  remember  a  visit  with  father  and  mother  to  their  house  in  Mount 
Pleasant  when  I  ^-as  four  years  and  a  half  old,  and  one  lasting  impres- 
sion of  that  visit  is  that  I  had  an  orange  given  me  there  and  it  was  the 
first  one  I  ever  saw  and  tasted.  Uncle  Joseph  Kithcart  left  three  daugh- 
ters :  Rebecca,  who  married  R.  M.  Dickey,  of  Allegheny,  Pa. ;  Mary, 
who  married  J.  Plummer  Bracken,  of  Mount  Pleasant ;  and  Louisa,  who 
is  now  Mrs.  John  A.  Page. 


1851.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  297 

Their  mother,  aunt  Martha  Kithcart,  died  July  2,  1869.  Uncle 
Joseph's  mother,  Mrs.  Galloway,  who  was,  however,  always  known  as 
Grandmother  Kithcart,  lived  in  her  own  home  in  Mount  Pleasant  from 
the  time  she  quit  keeping  house  for  father  at  Rush  Run  in  1827,  and 
after  an  illness  for  three  years,  during  which  she  was  confined  to  her 
bed,  she  died  August  20,  1854,  near  the  close  of  her  eighty-second  year. 

MY   FIRST  VISIT   TO    FAYETTE   COUNTY. 

During  the  fall  of  1851  father  took  me  with  him  on  a  visit  to  Fayette 
County  to  see  uncle  David.  I  was  a  very  little  boy  of  six  and  a  half 
years  to  go  away  so  far  from  my  mother,  but  it  was  a  very  pleasant  trip 
to  me — the  farthest  away  from  home  that  I  had  ever  before  been — and  I 
have  always  distinctly  remembered  it  to  this  day. 

It  was  a  journey  of  seventy  miles  across  the  country,  and  we  drove  in 
the  carriage,  stopping  over  night  at  uncle  Robert  Lee's,  then  at  Wash- 
ington, for  dinner,  and  on  along  the  National  Road,  stopping  the  second 
liight  near  Beallsville  at  John  Hill's,  and  the  next  day  passing  on  across 
the  Monongahela  River  at  Brownsville  to  Searight's  ;  there  leaving  the 
pike  and  turning  eastward  along  the  Philadelphia  clay  road,  and  I  re- 
member a  finger-board  at  Searight's  which  pointed  eastward  and  said, — 
"To  Philadelphia  300  mis." 

We  went  on  through  Pluinpsock,  and  past  Laurel  Hill  Church,  and 
arrived  at  uncle  David's  that  evening.  We  had  brought  Lizzie  Stone- 
road  with  us  from  Steubenville  Seminary,  where  she  had  been  at  school, 
and  as  she  was  expected  home  about  this  time,  her  father,  the  Rev.  Joel 
Stoneroad,  pastor  of  Laurel  Hill,  where  uncle  David  was  an  Elder,  found 
it  convenient  to  request  father  to  bring  his  daughter  home  with  him. 
Here  at  uncle  David's  we  found  my  sister  Nancy,  who  had  come  over 
from  Unity,  Westmoreland  County,  where  she  had  been  teaching  for 
five  months,  and  she  came  home  with  us. 

FATHER   AN    ELDER    IN   STEUBENVILLE. 

On  November  10,  1851,  father  was  elected  a  Ruling  Elder  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville,  and  he  was  installed  on  Sabbath, 
December  21  of  the  same  year,  he  having  been  ordained  an  Elder  in  the 
Centre  Church  in  1824.     In  this  First  Church  he  continued  in  the  office 


298  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1853. 

of  Ruling  Elder  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  very  regular 
in  his  attendance  at  the  regular  monthly  meetings  of  the  Session,  and 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  church,  and  was 
often  in  attendance  at  Presbytery  and  Synod. 

He  was  always  the  warm  friend  of  the  pastor,  and  was  loyal  to  the 
interests  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

UNCLE  ROBERT  LEE'S  DEATH. 

One  of  the  best  men  in  his  day  and  generation  was  Uncle  Robert 
Lee,  the  husband  of  mother's  younger  and  only  sister,  Elizabeth  Hind- 
man.  He  was  one  of  the  sons  of  William  Lee,  and  was  born  in  1806,  in 
Brooke  County,  Va.,  only  a  short  distance  across  the  river  from  Steu- 
benville. 

After  Grandmother  Hindman  had  married  John  Orr,  of  Holliday's 
Cove,  her  daughter  Elizabeth  lived  with  them,  and  they  and  the  Lees 
all  went  to  the  Three  Springs  Church.  In  this  way  Robert  Lee  and 
Elizabeth  Hindman  became  acquainted,  and  they  were  married  in  Janu- 
ary, 1835. 

He  owned  a  fine  farm  three  miles  from  Burgettstown,  and  the  same 
distance  from  Cross  Creek  Village;  and  here  they  settled  down  and  be- 
came members  of  Dr.  John  Stockton's  church  in  Cross  Creek  Village, 
where  he  became  a  ruling  elder.  Three  daughters  were  born  to  them  : 
Mary,  who  was  married  to  David  M.  Pry,  of  Burgettstown,  February  5, 
1885  ;  Nannie,  who  still  remains  unmarried,  and  Elizabeth,  who  was 
married  to  Levi  Scott  June  5,  1867.  The  home  of  Uncle  Robert  Lee 
was  always  one  of  the  most  delightful  places  to  visit,  and  many  were  the 
social  exchanges  of  visits  between  the  two  families;  and  none  more  sin- 
cerely mourned  the  early  death  of  Uncle  Robert  than  father  and  mother 
and  all  of  us  children;  for  he  died  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  January  16, 

1853- 

Aunt  Lee  and  her  daughters  continued  to  live  on  the  farm  and  man- 
age it  for  many  years,  until  1878,  when  they  rented  it  and  moved  to 
Burgettstown,  where  aunt  died  October  22,  1886,  and  Nannie  still  re- 
sides there  in  her  own  house.  Lizzie's  husband,  Levi  Scott,  died  very 
suddenly  from  an  accident  in  June,  1883.  She  still  occupies  her  farm 
near  Burgettstown,  to  which  she  went  when  first  married,  and  it  is  man- 


1855  ]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  299 

aged  by   her  only   child,    Robert   Lee    Scott,  who   is   now  twenty-one 
years  of  age. 

DEATH  OF  AUNT  BETSY  IRVINE  SHERRARD. 

The  fall  of  1854  father  and  mother  and  sister  Sue  went  on  a  visit  to 
Uncle  David's ;  and  as  they  were  about  to  leave  for  home,  father  speaks 
of  his  parting  with  Aunt  Betsy  in  this  way: 

"  I  bade  farewell  to  sister  Betsy,  and  before  going  out  to  the  carriage, 
as  I  stood  a  moment  in  the  door,  she  spoke  in  a  solemn  tone  which 
struck  me  forcibly:  'Robert,  I  shall  never  see  you  again.'  But  I  replied; 
'You  may  see  me  again;  for  if  you  are  not  able  to  come  to  see  me,  I 
may  be  able  to  come  and  see  you.'  But  there  was  something  prophetic 
in  her  remark,  for  she  never  did  see  me  again  in  this  life;  for,  before  my 
return  to  Fayette  County,  she  had  passed  away.  She  died  June  19, 
1855,  when  she  calmly  breathed  her  last  in  the  presence  of  her  husband, 
who  had  always  been  a  kind  and  loving  husband  to  her  since  their  mar- 
riage March  14,  1816.  With  her  last  breath,  the  last  word  that  she 
spoke  was  '  David.'  It  was  evident  that  she  dearly  loved  David,  her 
husband,  and  David  dearly  loved  his  wife,  and  well  he  might,  for  she 
was  a  woman  of  rare  qualities  and  qualifications.  During  the  latter  part 
of  her  life  she  was  much  afflicted  with  spinal  disease,  and  for  the  last  three 
or  four  years  she  had  the  use  of  her  hands,  but  could  not  dress  herself" 

Uncle  David  was  married  again  February  13,  1858,  to  Miss  Martha 
Watt,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  they  lived  together  very  happily  until  Uncle 
David's  death,  June  2,  1880,  after  which  Aunt  Martha  continued  to  live 
at  the  same  place,  two  miles  from  Dunbar,  Pa.,  and  she  is  living  there 
alone  at  the  present  lime  in  a  happy  old  age.  It  is  the  same  old  house 
where  Uncle  David  lived  so  long,  and  the  very  same  place  where  grand- 
father and  grandmother,  John  and  Mary  Sherrard,  were  living  in  1786, 
when  Uncle  David  was  born, — the  same  place  where  Uncle  David  Cath- 
cart  lived  so  long,  and  he  left  it  to  Uncle  David  A.  C.  Sherrard.  He 
sold  the  farm  many  years  ago  to  his  nephew,  Thomas  G.  Sherrard,  and 
after  the  death  of  cousin  Thomas,  his  son  David  lived  there  for  a  few 
years;  but  the  old  farm  is  now  sold  into  the  hands  of  strangers.  Uncle 
David  reserved  the  house  and  a  few  acres  for  himself,  and  Aunt  Martha 
continues  to  live  there. 


300  .  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1856. 

FARM   LIFE,    1850-60. 

After  the  older  brothers  and  sisters  were  married,  and  Nancy  and 
John  were  away  at  school,  our  home  life  on  the  farm  went  on  as  usual, 
for  William  and  I  were  gradually  growing  up  to  take  our  part  in  the 
work  on  the  farm,  while  for  a  time  Brother  Joseph  was  chief  manager 
under  father.  But  as  Brother  William  grew  older,  he  took  the  manage- 
ment of  the  farm,  and  Joseph  began  about  1858  to  work  at  painting  in 
town  and  country,  and  for  a  time  he  was  clerk  in  a  grocery  in  Steuben- 
ville ;  but  he  still  made  his  home  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  at  times  worked  on 
the  farm. 

During  the  earlier  years  W^illiam  and  I  were  at  school  summer  and 
winter  at  our  District  school  at  Hill's  school-house,  and  the  winter 
of  1855-6,  which  was  a  very  cold  and  snowy  winter,  he  and  I  went  reg- 
ularly to  the  South  Grammar  School  in  Steubenville,  where  we  made 
good  progress  in  our  studies.  Among  other  excellent  things  which 
we  learned  that  winter  at  school  was  how  to  sing  and  to  read  music 
at  sight,  which  was  taug  it  in  the  public  schools. 

The  knowledge  of  music  thus  acquired  was  of  the  greatest  value 
and  pleasure  to  both  of  us  all  through  our  lives,  and  we  tried  to  use  it 
to  good  account. 

Sister  Jane  started  to  school  at  the  Seminary  May  5,  185 1,  and 
went  that  summer  session,  and  remained  at  home  the  following  win- 
ter, and  then  went  again  the  summer  of  1852.  Sister  Sue  then  started 
to  the  Seminary  November  i,  1852,  and  continued  in  attendance  there 
till  she  graduated  the  spring  of  1855.  Jane  then  started  again  to  the 
Seminary  for  the  summer  session  of  that  year,  and  the  following  win- 
ter she  boarded  at  brother  Robert's  in  town,  and  continued  at  school 
until  the  summer  of  1856.  She  was  in  the  class  of  1857,  and  would 
have  graduated  that  spring,  but  sister  Sue  was  taken  with  a  severe 
sore  throat  the  May  of  1856,  and  Jane  remained  at  home  and  gave 
up  school. 

She  remained  at  home  with  mother  ever  after  that,  the  centre  of 
all  the  home  life  in  connection  with  sister  Sarah,  and  during  all  these 
years  sister  Jane  was  the  daily  companion  of  Sarah  and  a  sympathizing 
sister  in  her  long  affliction,  while  she  has  been  up  to  the  present  time  the 


1859.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTUR  V.  301 

comfort  and  companion  to  mother,  faithfully  and  lovingly  ministering  to 
her  in  her  declining  years.  And  no  matter  where  the  brothers  and  sis- 
ters of  the  family  had  gone,  far  away  from  the  old  home  at  Sugar  Hill, 
they  were  sure  of  a  warm  welcome  from  Jane  and  Sarah  on  their 
return  home.  In  those  days  among  the  fifties,  many  were  the  pleasant 
visits  during  the  slack  time  of  the  year,  when  sometimes  one,  sometimes 
another,  would  go  with  father  and  mother  on  visits  to  relatives,  to  uncle 
David's  or  uncle  John's,  or  to  aunt  Lee's  or  to  the  various  friends  at 
Mount  Pleasant,  and  many  were  the  visits  we  received  from  these 
friends. 

Father  and  mother  were  always  most  hospitable  people  and  kept  open 
house  for  all  their  friends  as  long  as  I  can  remember,  and  their  circle  of 
acquaintance  and  friendship  was  large  all  over  the  country.  The  fall  of 
1856  I  went  with  father  and  mother  on  a  visit  over  through  Washington 
County,  Pa.,  and  everywhere  the  country  was  e.xcited  over  the  coming 
Presidential  election,  when  Fremont  was  the  Republican  candidate, 
and  Buchanan  the  Democratic. 

I  have  never  seen  as  many  political  poles  since  ;  every  farm-house 
seemed  to  have  its  pole  in  the  yard  to  declare  the  political  principles  of 
the  owner. 

Again  the  fall  of  1859  I  went  with  father  and  mother  on  a  visit  to  Fay- 
ette County,  Pa.,  and  while  there  we  went  one  day  up  on  the  mountain 
side  to  the  old  farm  where  father  was  born  just  seventy  years  before,  and 
he  had  never  seen  the  old  place  since  the  day  they  had  moved  off,  when 
father  was  ten  years  old. 

FATHER    AS   A    WRITER. 

It  seemed  to  me  in  my  boyhood  that  father  was  often  engaged  in 
transacting  some  kind  of  business  for  other  people.  And  by  the  time 
I  was  old  enough  to  appreciate  my  father's  intelligence  and  abilities,  as 
he  was  56  years  old  when  I  was  born,  he  was  old  enough  to  retire  from 
active  life;  and  as  he  had  boys  who  were  fully  capable  of  attending  to 
all  the  farm  work,  father  was  able  to  take  life  easier,  and  to  have  leisure 
for  other  employments.  His  counsel  was  often  sought  by  neighbors,  and 
often  he  was  called  upon  to  write  the  last  wills  of  his  old  acquaintances. 
I  know  not   how  many  wills  he  drew  in  his   lifetime,  nor  how   many 


302  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1860. 

estates  he  settled  as  Executor  or  Administrator,  but  certain!}'  a  great 
many.  One  of  the  estates  that  occupied  his  attention  for  several  years 
was  that  of  old  James  Armstrong.  In  addition  to  his  work  on  the  farm, 
with  occasional  attention  to  business  for  other  people,  it  seems  to  me  in 
looking  back  over  my  boyhood  that  father  in  his  leisure  moments  always 
had  either  a  paper  or  a  pen  in  his  hand,  and  one  of  the  familiar  sights  in 
our  house  was  the  old  desk  and  the  old  cork  inkstand,  and  the  dozens  of 
quill  pens  lying  around. 

For  it  must  be  remembered  that  during  his  long  life  father  never 
used  anything  but  a  quill  pen,  and  these  he  always  made  for  himself. 
For  this  purpose  he  kept  a  penknife  of  the  finest  steel  and  keenest  edge. 

He  was  always  an  early  riser,  and  one  of  the  first  things  to  be  seen 
any  morning  of  the  week  would  be  father  sitting  at  his  little  stand 
writing,  either  in  his  journal  or  his  family  history,  or  some  communica- 
tion for  a  newspaper,  or  a  letter  to  one  of  his  children  or  his  brothers 
David  and  John.  He  always  used  foolscap  paper,  and  it  must  be  of  the 
best  quality,  and  in  this  way  he  wrote  in  a  round  and  legible  hand 
thousands  and  thousands  of  pages  in  his  day.  When  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion  broke  out  father  was  a  very  strong  supporter  of  the  Union, 
for  he  had  been  a  lifelong  Whig  and  a  Republican  from  the  day  of  the 
organization  of  that  party,  and  he  had  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
warmly  endorsed  his  policy. 

He  diligently  read  the  war  news  in  the  daily  papers,  and  from  them 
he  copied  out  all  sorts  of  interesting  accounts  of  the  progress  of  the 
war,  until  he  filled  two  large  volumes.  Taking  his  Daily  Journals, 
What  I  Remember,  Common  Place  Books,  Notes  of  the  War,  History  of 
Old  Centre,  Family  History,  and  other  books,  all  of  which  he  left  in 
Manuscript,  I  have  counted  10,000  pages. 

rxcLE  joHx  sherr.^rd's  death. 

On  July  14,  i860,  Uncle  John  died  at  his  home  on  Piney  Fork,  four 
miles  west  of  Smithfield,  Ohio,  and  he  was  buried  the  following  day  at 
Beech  Spring.  In  the  settling  up  of  his  estate  there  was  a  sale  of  his 
personal  property,  and  I  have,  no  doubt,  the  old  chest  was  sold  that 
had  belonged   to   Grandmother   Mary   Cathcart  Sherrard,  in  which   she 


1861.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  803 

brought  over  her  fine  clothes  from  Ireland  when  she  came  with  her 
father  the  fall  of  1773,  as  father  mentions  that  it  was  left  at  Uncle 
John's.  Among  other  things  father  bought  Uncle  John's  family  car- 
riage, and  it  was  a  vehicle  of  fine  workmanship,  which  lasted  our  family 
as  long  as  they  remained  at  Sugar  Hill. 

Aunt  Sarah  survived  her  husband  only  about  a  year  and  died  Septem- 
ber 27,  1S61.  They  had  only  two  children,  and  the  younger,  James, 
had  died  when  a  young  man,  April  15,  1851.  The  other  son,  William, 
who  married  Margaret  Jane  Neal,  had  removed  out  to  Iowa  a  few  years 
before  the  death  of  his  parents,  but  he  was  frequently  home  to  see  them. 
But  for  many  years  past  nothing  has  been  heard  of  him. 

father's  trip  east. 

One  of  the  pleasantest  experiences  of  father's  life  was  his  first  and 
only  visit  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York  the  spring  of  1861.  He  went 
in  company  with  brother  Robert,  and  they  were  gone  from  April  29th 
to  May  loth. 

He  was  absent  on  this  trip  on  his  birthday  that  year,  and  from  the 
Continental  Hotel,  Philadelphia,  he  wrote  in  his  Journal  that  day  as 
follows:  "Saturday  morning,  May  4,  1861.  This  day  at  12  o'clock 
I  have  arrived  at  72  years  of  age,  and  have  had  a  fine  golden  happy 
time  of  it. 

"  Thank  God  for  it,  together  with  good  health  and  strength,  and  a 
strong,  well-balanced  mind,  all  of  which  helped  along  the  enjoyment 
of  life,  coupled  with  agreeable  wives  as  companions  in  the  journey  of 
life." 

They  spent  five  days  in  Philadelphia,  and  father  gives  a  minute 
account  of  everything  he  saw  in  that  city,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  May 
4th  they  crossed  the  Market  Street  Ferry  to  Camden  and  took  the 
cars  on  the  Camden  &  Amboy  R.  R.  for  New  York,  and  went  to  the 
St.  Nicholas  Hotel. 

The  next  morning  being  Sabbath,  father  and  Robert  went  to  hear 
Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  and  this  is  father's  account  of  it:  "We  walked 
two  miles  up  Broadway  northward  to  Dr.  Spring's  church.  They  were 
singing  the  first  hymn.  We  were  shown  by  the  sexton  to  a  seat  some 
distance  up  the  aisle  occupied  by  one  woman  and  a  man. 


304  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY.  [1861, 

"  Dr.  Spring,  after  he  had  made  a  very  appropriate  prayer,  took  a 
text,  and  preached  one  hour  and  five  minutes  by  my  watch,  from  2  Cor. 
5  :  10,  '  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ.'  To 
be  76  years  of  age.  Dr.  Spring  did  the  subject  great  justice;  he  stood 
on  his  feet  and  preached  long  and  preached  well  for  his  age,  without 
looking  much  to  manuscript  or  notes." 

That  Sabbath  evening  they  went  to  hear  Dr.  Chapin,  and  this  is  the 
way  father  speaks  of  it :  "  Mr.  Chapin  preaches  for  the  Universalists, 
but  appears  to  be  sound  in  the  faith  in  all  his  expressed  views.  He 
took  his  text  in  Proverbs,  and  he  discoursed  for  half  an  hour  well  and 
to  the  purpose,  and  quietly  slipped  off  into  a  political  strain  with  regard 
to  the  times  and  troubles  between  the  North  and  the  South.  And 
among  other  things  he  mentioned  the  case  of  the  first  man  that  was 
killed  in  Baltimore,  belonging  to  the  Boston  (Massachusetts)  Regiment, 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1861,  and  said  that  the  moment  he  was  shot  he 
cried  out :  '  God  bless  the  Stars  and  Stripes,'  and  fell  dead  on  the  spot. 
This  brought  down  a  very  full  house,  and  such  a  stamping  and  tapping 
on  the  floor  I  never  heard  in  any  church  on  Sabbath,  at  any  time,  in  all 
my  life  before."  Monday  was  a  rainy  day,  but  Tuesday  the)^  started 
out  to  see  the  sights :  "  After  breakfast,  which  was  at  9  A.  M.,  I  and 
Robert  started  down  Broadway,  and  the  sidewalk  was  so  crowded  that 
it  was  difficult  to  get  along.  Just  before  we  started  I  stood  before  the 
door  of  the  St.  Nicholas,  and  counted  fifty-two  men,  five  women  and 
two  boys  pass  on  the  sidewalk  next  to  me  in  one  minute ;  and  I  have 
no  doubt  but  at  three  o'clock,  P.  M.  the  stream  of  human  beings  on 
each  side  of  Broadway  had  increased  that  two  hundred  or  more  were 
passing  every  minute."  After  spending  four  days  in  New  York  and 
visiting  many  places  of  interest,  among  others  Central  Park,  Five  Points, 
Trinity  and  the  New  York  Exchange,  all  of  which  father  describes  very 
particularly,  they  returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  the  towns  and  scenery 
along  through  New  Jersey  are  described.  They  remained  for  a  day  or 
two  in  Philadelphia,  and  then  returned  home  to  Steubenville. 

A   CARRIAGE   DRIVE   TO   RUIERSBURG. 

My  brother  John  had  settled  as  pastor  at  Rimersburg,  in  Clarion 
County,    Pa.,   the   spring    of    1861,   and   during   that  summer   his  little 


1861.1  FAMILY  HISTORY.         ,  305 

daughter  Jennie,  tliree  years  old,  was  with  us  at  Sugar  Hill.  The  fall 
of  1861  Nancy,  Jane  and  I  concluded  to  make  a  visit  to  Rimersburg, 
and  we  were  to  take  Jennie  with  us  to  her  home.  We  set  off  in  the 
carriage,  and  I  drove  a  very  fine  team  of  horses,  "  Charley "  and 
"  Sylvia,"  which  I  had  myself  broken  to  drive  together. 

Only  the  day  before  we  started  I  had  harrowed  in  twelve  acres  of 
wheat  all  in  one  day,  driving  these  two  horses  together  with  check 
lines,  so  that  they  would  go  wtll  together  on  this  trip.  It  was  a  splen- 
did team,  much  admired  everywhere  along  the  road,  and  it  proved  to  be 
a  very  delightful  trip  with  perfect  October  weather. 

We  went  by  the  old  Steubenville  and  Pittsburgh  pike,  stopping  the 
first  night  at  Florence,  where  we  visited  at  Mrs.  Kerr's  and  Mr.  Dun- 
can's, and  the  next  night  we  spent  at  Mrs.  Davis',  four  miles  west  of 
Pittsburgh,  near  what  is  now  Grafton  Station.  We  crossed  the  Ohio 
the  following  day  at  Saw  Mill  Run,  and  passing  on  up  through  Alle- 
gheny and  Sharpsburg,  took  dinner  at  Freeport  and  spent  the  night  at 
Slate  Lick,  in  Armstrong  County. 

The  next  day  we  drove  on  to  Watterson's  Ferry  where  we  crossed  the 
Allegheny  River,  and  thence  five  miles  farther  to  Rimersburg.  On  our 
return  we  came  to  Kittaning  the  first  day  for  dinner,  and  from  there  we 
went  on  out  eastward  in  Armstrong  County  and  visited  for  a  day  or 
two  at  Mr.  Scott's,  and  also  at  Mr.  McCartney's  near  Apollo. 

We  then  passed  on  through  Elder's  Ridge  and  Saltsburg,  and  came 
to  New  Alexandria,  where  we  visited  at  the  home  of  the  Rev.  Adam 
Torrance.  There  Jane  and  I  left  Nancy,  as  she  was  to  attend  the  wedding 
of  her  friend  Mattie  Torrance  who  was  shortly  to  be  united  in  marriage 
to  the  Rev.  T.  F.  Wallace.  We  drove  homeward  through  Westmoreland 
County  along  the  Northern  Pike,  and  came  through  Murraysville,  and 
Wilkinsburg  and  East  Liberty,  driving  down  Penn  Avenue  through 
Pittsburgh,  crossing  the  Monongahela  River  on  the  Smithfield  Street 
Bridge,  and  so  on  out  to  Mrs.  Davis's ;  then  on  to  Florence  where  we 
turned  off  and  visited  at  aunt  Lee's,  and  from  there  we  came  hprrie  after 
an  absence  of  three  weeks. 


306  .  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1864. 

THE   ONE    HUNDRED   DAYS'   SERVICE. 

There  were  many  trying  times  during  the  progress  of  the  Civil  War, 
but  none  more  so  than  the  summer  of  1864,  when  the  National  Guards 
were  called  out  for  emergency  service  for  one  hundred  days.  This  left 
many  of  the  manufactories  idle,  and  on  the  farms  it  was  exceedingly 
difficult  to  get  men  to  do  the  necessary  work  in  securing  the  harvest,  so 
that  the  women  all  over  the  country  often  came  out  into  the  fields  to 
help.  My  brother  William  belonged  to  a  Steubenville  company  of  these 
State  Guards,  in  connection  with  the  153d  Regiment  of  Ohio.  He  had 
never  gone  into  the  army  but  had  remained  at  home  to  take  care  of  the 
family,  and  the  first  part  of  the  war  I  was  too  young  for  regular  service, 
so  I  was  away  at  school. 

During  the  spring  vacation  of  1864  I  was  at  home  from  the  academy 
at  Merrittstown,  Pa  ,  in  April,  when  the  National  Guards  were  called  out 
for  the  summer.  William  had  to  go  with  his  regiment,  and  they  were 
sent  to  Fort  Delaware,  down  in  Delaware  Bay,  to  guard  rebel  prisoners. 

Thus  William's  absence  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary  for  me  to  re- 
main at  home  that  summer  and  manage  the  farm  under  father's  direction. 
Many  of  our  soldiers  were  taken  sick  at  Fort  Delaware  owing  to  the 
malarial  conditions  of  that  region,  and  brother  William  came  home  late 
in  the  summer  with  inflammatory  rheumatism,  and  from  this  he  recov- 
ered very  slowly.  His  health  was  permanently  impaired,  and  his  natur- 
ally vigorous  constitution  was  much  broken  by  the  summer's  exposure, 
so  that  from  the  effects  of  this  he  never  fully  recovered.  He  was,  how- 
ever, late  in  the  fall  of  1864,  able  to  take  up  his  management  of  the  farm 
again,  and  I  started  to  college  at  Washington. 

father's   serious   ACCIDENT    IN    1 866. 

On  June  13,  1866,  father  met  with  the  most  serious  accident  of  his 
life.  He  was  out  in  a  shed  attached  to  the  barn,  assisting  brother 
William  in  sawing  off  the  sharp  ends  of  the  horns  of  a  cow,  when  the 
cow,  which  was  securely  fastened,  happened  to  give  a  sudden  lunge,  and 
father's  left  hand  was  caught  under  the  cow's  horn. 

The  sharp  horn  caught  the  finger  of  the  left  hand  next  to  the  little 
finger  and  ran  through  the  fleshy  part  of  the  finger,  lacerating  the  flesh 


1866.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  307 

in  a  most  serious  manner.  It  proved  to  be  a  very  painful  wound,  and 
more  excruciating,  father  says,  than  anything  he  had  ever  before  ex- 
perienced. The  finger  had  to  be  amputated  at  the  second  joint,  but  this 
did  not  prove  effective,  and  finally  the  whole  finger  had  to  be  removed 
at  tiie  knuckle  joint,  and  ever  afterwards  father's  left  hand  was  somewhat 
stiff  and  tender.  During  this  affliction,  father  was  reduced  to  such  a 
serious  condition  that  the  physician  was  very  apprehensive  at  one  time 
about  his  recovery,  although  he  was  not  at  any  time  confined  to  his  bed. 

But  his  situation  was  so  alarming  that  father's  twelve  children  all  came 
home  to  see  him,  and  we  were  all  together  in  the  old  home  at  one  time. 
This  was  something  which  had  never  occurred  before.  David  had 
left  home  before  I  was  born,  and  although  there  was  a  great  deal  of  vis- 
iting back  and  forth,  and  often  all  would  be  at  home  except  one  or  two, 
at  the  same  time,  yet  it  had  so  happened  that  all  of  the  twelve  had  never 
met  together  before.  And  now  on  Thursday,  July  5,  1866,  we  were  all 
home  together.  Father  and  mother,  and  the  twelve  children,  six  boys 
and  six  girls,  all  sat  down  to  supper  together,  and  we  all  spent  that  night 
at  Sugar  Hill. 

We  were  never  all  together  again  as  a  family,  except  on  the  occasion  of 
sister  Susan's  marriage,  which  took  place  four  months  later,  November  7, 
1866;  and  again  and  finally  in  this  life,  the  twelve  children  were  all  at 
home  at  the  time  of  father's  death,  January  i,  1874. 

MARRIAGE   OF   SUSAN   CATHCART   SHERRARD. 

But  the  joy  of  our  family  reunion  and  father's  convalescence  was  over- 
shadowed only  the  very  next  day  by  the  distressing  calamity  in  the  ac- 
cidental drowning  of  brother  John's  lovely  little  boy,  Charlie,  two  and  a 
half  years  old.  This  occurred  on  Friday,  July  6,  1866,  and  the  following 
Monday  John  and  Kizzie  returned  home  to  Rimersburg,  and  sister  Sue  ' 
thought  it  her  duty  in  the  time  of  their  deep  affliction  to  accompany 
them  home  and  remain  for  a  time.  While  in  Clarion  Count)',  on  that 
visit,  Sue  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Culbertson  Orr. 

He  was  a  widower  with  three  children,  his  wife  having  been  Miss 
Nancy  Smith,  of  Westmoreland  County.  He  was  a  farmer  of  energy, 
thrift  and  prosperity,  and  owned  a  fine  farm  in  Limestone  Township, 
Clarion  County,  six  miles   from  Clarion,  and  two  miles  from  Greenville. 


308  THE  SHERRARD   EAMILV.  [18(56. 

The  acquaintance  then  formed  between  him  and  my  sister  Sue  resulted 
in  his  coming  to  see  her  at  Sugar  Hill,  after  her  return  home.  To  make 
a  long  story  short,  there  was  an  engagement,  and  finally,  a  marriage,  at 
our  old  home  at  Sugar  Hill  on  November  7,  1866,  and  it  was  a  grand 
occasion. 

But  I  have  requested  my  sister  Susan  to  write  out  a  connected  account 
of  her  life,  from  the  time  of  her  graduation  at  the  Seminary  the  spring  of 
1855  up  to  the  time  of  her  marriage  the  fall  of  1866,  and  it  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  About  the  middle  of  April,  1855,  I  went  to  Springfield,  Ohio,  where 
I  taught  in  the  Seminary  carried  on  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sturdevant.  There 
was  only  a  three  months'  term,  and  I  returned  home  by  the  middle  of  July. 
As  Nancy  was  teaching  at  the  Seminary  in  Steubenville  and  Jane  attend- 
ing school  there  that  summer  and  the  following  winter,  I  remained  at 
home  to  help  my  mother.  Jane  entered  the  Senior  year  in  May,  1856, 
but  remained  only  a  month  when  I  was  taken  very  ill  and  brought  near 
death's  door,  but  I  rallied,  and  by  July  was  able  to  be  about  my  usual 
work  again.  Jane  had  lost  so  much  time  and  fallen  behind  her  class 
that  she  refused  to  go  back  to  school,  which  has  been  a  never-failing 
source  of  regret  to  me.  In  the  fall  of  1856,  while  on  a  visit  to  aunt  Lee, 
their  neighbor,  Mr.  Josiah  Scott,  came  to  see  me  about  teaching  their 
winter  school,  which  I  agreed  to  do,  and  I  spent  the  winter  there,  board- 
ing at  aunt  Lee's.  But  I  lost  a  month  of  the  winter  by  an  attack  of 
measles,  through  •which  I  was  very  kindly  nursed  by  my  aunt  and 
cousins,  and  afterwards  I  enjoyed  much  better  health  than  for  several 
years. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1857  I  taught  two  months  and  a  half  in  the  public 
school  in  Steubenville,  assisting  Miss  Manly  in  the  South  Grammar 
School,  and  in  that  school  John  Henry  Sharpe,  now  Rev.  Dr.  Sharpe  of 
Philadelphia,  was  one  of  my  pupils.  In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1857-8 
I  taught  my  first  term  in  our  school  at  home.  After  that  I  remained  at 
home  until  July,  1858,  when  I  went  to  Kentucky  to  teach  in  a  Select 
School  in  Woodford  County. 

"  It  was  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  agreeable  schools  I  ever  taught, 
and  I  remained  there  two  years   and  a  half,  always  spending  my  vaca- 


1855-1890.]  FAMIL  Y  HISTOR  Y.  309 

tions  at  home  for  about  two  months  each  summer.  But  owing  to  the 
disturbed  state  of  the  country  I  returned  home  about  the  ist  of  Febru- 
ary, 1861,  and  remained  until  the  1st  of  May.  At  that  time  I  went  with 
my  brother  John  and  his  family  to  their  new  home  in  Rimersburg, 
Clarion  County,  Pa.,  where  I  remained  until  August.  That  fall  and 
winter  I  taught  my  second  term  in  our  home  school,  and  about  the  1st 
of  April,  1862,  I  went  to  Clarion  County  to  attend  the  wedding  of  my 
friend  Bella  Orr,  and  to  make  a  little  visit  to  brother  John. 

"  During  the  summer  of  1862  I  remained  at  home,  and  that  fall  I  ac- 
cepted the  Grdmmar  School  in  the  old  Academy  in  Steubenville,  and 
taught  there  a  year.  My  health  was  not  good  that  year,  so  I  did  not 
go  back,  but  taught  part  of  a  term  at  our  home  school.  I  resigned  in 
January  to  accept  an  invitation  to  go  to  Pisgah  School  in  Woodford 
County,  Ky.,  and  there  I  taught  five  months  until  summer  vacation  of 
1 864.  That  fall  I  returned  to  the  same  place  in  Kentucky,  but  taught 
only  one  month,  when  sister  Nancy  wrote,  urging  me  to  give  up  my 
school  and  go  to  assist  her  in  a  school  she  had  started  in  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.  My  patrons  in  Kentucky  kindly  released  me,  and  I  went  to  Fort 
Wayne  and  assisted  Nancy  the  remainder  of  the  year,  until  the  last  of 
June,  1865.  My  health  was  not  good  in  Fort  Wayne,  and  in  the  fall 
of  1865  I  had  an  offer  to  go  back  to  my  old  school  in  Woodford 
County,  Ky.,  and  I  returned,  remaining  there  until  June,  1866.  This 
closed  my  career  as  a  teacher,  as  I  was  married  the  fall  of  1866." 

My  sister  Sue's  husband,  Culbertson  Orr,  has  for  many  years  been 
an  elder  in  the  Greenville  Presbyterian  Church. 

Five  children  have  been  born  to  them  in  their  home  :  Robert  Sher- 
rard ;  William  Culbertson ;  Henry  Comingo ;  George  Thomas ;  and 
Jane  Hindman. 

Robert  has  spent  several  years  as  a  student  in  Washington  and 
Jefferson  College,  and  is  at  the  present  time  in  the  Junior  Class. 
Will  has  just  this  winter  of  1889-90  entered  the  Middle  Preparatory 
Class  in  College.  Harry  has  been  in  poor  health  for  some  years  past. 
George  lived  only  a  few  months,  and  died  of  scarlet  fever. 

Jane  is  at  home  at  school,  and  is  her  mother's  great  comfort  and 
helper.     For  many  years  while  my  sister  Sue  still  remained  at  home 


310  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1855-1890. 

she  sang  alto  in  the  choir  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steu- 
benville. 

Of  all  my  father's  six  daughters  she  was  the  best  singer,  having  a 
natural  alto  voice.  It  was  a  voice  of  unusual  sweetness,  clearness 
and  power.  It  may  be  said  that  my  testimony  is  biased  by  my  boy- 
ish love  and  interest  in  my  sister,  but  those  who  remember  my  sister 
Sue's  voice  in  the  old  choir  of  the  First  Church  will  bear  me  out 
when  I  say  that  her  voice  had  a  peculiar  charm  to  it  possessed  by 
very  few  alto  singers.  In  all  my  wide  experience,  in  a  musical  way, 
I  have  never  heard  a  more  lovely  alto  voice,  and  very  few,  indeed, 
that  have  been  equal  to  it  in  sweetness  and  purity. 

CLOSING    D.\YS   OF    ROBERT    A.    SHERRARD. 

Nothing  could  be  more  beautiful  and  affecting  to  those  who  wit- 
nessed it  than  the  happy  old  age  of  my  father,  and  his  life  went  on- 
ward toward  its  close  with  the  calmness  and  contentment  of  one  who  had 
served  his  generation  well,  at  peace  with  God  and  with  his  fellow-men. 

His  was  a  life  of  remarkable  cheerfulness  and  ceaseless  activity, 
and  he  came  to  his  closing  days  with  his  natural  force  unabated,  ex- 
cept as  the  weight  of  years  reduced  his  vital  powers,  but  he  remained 
to  the  last  in  the  vigorous  use  of  all  his  faculties.  His  eyesight  was 
good,  his  hearing  acute,  his  memory  unfailing,  and  his  mind  perfectly 
clear.  Born  the  very  year  the  American  Constitution  was  adopted,  he 
had  lived  in  manhood  through  the  first  three-quarters  of  the  most  won- 
derful century  in  all  the  world's  history,  and  he  himself  saw  with  his 
own  eyes  the  development  of  that  great  progress  in  the'  world's  civiliza- 
tion upon  which  we  look  back  with  amazement. 

Blessed  with  an  unusually  vigorous  constitution  from  his  birth,  it  was 
never  impaired  by  the  practice  of  any  vices  or  evil  habits,  and  any 
tendency  towards  physical  weakness  was  caused,  according  to  his  own 
testimony,  by  his- own  folly  in  lifting  in  his  youth. 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  he  read  and  wrote  much,  and 
was  engaged  almost  daily  in  writing  at  his  Family  History,  while  for 
recreation  he  would  go  out  and  do  some  light  work  around  the  farm, 
or  gathering  apples  and  driving  to  town  and  selling  them.     It  is  one  of 


186G.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  311 

the  pleasant  things  to  remember  him  when  we  would  be  at  home  on  our 
visits,  and  perhaps  callers  would  come  in. 

He  would  be  busy  at  his  writing  out  in  the  dining-room,  while  others 
would  be  talking  in  the  parlor,  and  he  would  come  with  his  pen  in 
hand,  and  sit  for  awhile  taking  an  interest  in  what  was  said,  and  joining 
in  the  conversation,  telling  some  incident  of  long  ago  times,  and  then 
getting  up  and  going  back  to  his  writing,  Vvhich  he  loved  so  well  to  do. 
He  preferred  writing  on  a  little  stand  rather  than  at  his  desk,  and  this 
stand  was  one  of  the  most  familiar  objects  in  the  whole  house.  It  was 
a  part  of  my  mother's  outfit  when  she  was  married,  ordered  for  her  by 
her  mother,  and  made  of  walnut  by  a  cabinet  maker.  It  had  a  little 
drawer  in  it,  and  in  this  father  always  kept  his  shaving  tools,  and  every 
Wednesday  and  Saturday  morning,  as  regularly  as  the  sun  rose,  this 
little  stand  was  set  out  and  father  carefully  attended  to  shaving  himself 
In  later  days,  about  1864,  he  asked  me  to  put  a  new  and  larger  top  on 
this  stand,  so  that  he  might  have  more  room  for  his  books  and  writing 
materials,  and  I  did  so,  making  a  circular  top  of  solid  cherry,  twenty- 
eight  inches  in  diameter,  and  covering  it  with  oil-cloth. 

This  little  table  is  still  in  mother's  possession  at  the  seminary  in 
Washington,  and  just  here  at  this  writing,  January  4,  1890,  I  have  gone 
over  to  the  seminary  to  see  it,  and  mother  says  she  intends  that  I  shall 
have  this  old  table  for  mine.  After  I  had  put  the  new  top  to  it  father  was 
very  much  pleased  with  it,  and  took  great  comfort  in  it  all  the  rest  of 
his  days.  It  was  so  light  that  he  could  readily  move  it  around  wherever 
he  could  get  the  best  light,  and  as  it  had  casters  he  often  drew  it  out  on 
the  porch  in  warm  weather.  There  is  perhaps  no  more  vivid  recollec- 
tion of  father  to  any  of  the  family  than  as  we  remember  him  seated  at 
that  little  table  covered  over  with  his  books ;  or  as  we  see  him  rising 
and  going  to  the  window  to  make  or  repair  a  quill  pen. 


312  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1845-1890. 


THE  STORY  OF  MY  OWN  LIFE. 

THOMAS    JOHNSON   SHERRARD. 

MY  earliest  recollection  dates  back  to  the  time  when  I  was  about 
three  years  old,  and  I  was  playing  out  in  the  front  yard  one 
day  with  a  sharp  iron  pick,  when  I  struck  it  into  my  left  foot 
near  the  toes,  and  the  scar  is  there  to  this  day.  I  might  therefore  say 
that  this  event  made  a  marked  impression  upon  me.  About  the  same 
time  I  can  remember  that  my  father  often  took  me  with  him  out  to  the 
field  where  he  would  be  at  work,  and  if  it  was  cool  he  would  wrap  his 
coat  around  me.  He  took  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  in  me,  and  in  having 
me  with  him,  no  doubt  because  I  was  the  son  of  his  old  age.  I  went 
to  school  when  I  was  six  years  old  at  Hill's  school-house,  and  my  first 
teacher  was  old  Mr.  Laverty,  but  before  that  I  had  learned  to  read  at 
home  in  McGuffy's  First  Reader. 

The  winter  I  was  eight  years  old  I  received  the  prize,  "  The  Boy's 
Own  Book,"  for  being  the  best  speller  in  the  whole  school,  which  num- 
bered about  fifty  scholars,  old  and  young.  There  was  nothing  in  Cobb's 
spelling-book  that  I  did  not  know  in  those  days,  and  only  a  year  or  two 
afterwards  it  gave  way  to  McGuffy's,  and  I  became  just  as  familiar  with 
that.  The  winter  of  1855-56  my  brother  William  and  I  went  into 
Steubenville  to  school  at  the  South  Grammar  School,  and  we  walked 
in  and  out  every  morning  and  evening,  as  we  lived  two  miles  out  of 
town. 

It  wai  here  that  both  Will  and  I  learned  to  sing,  when  he  was  sixteen 
and  I  was  eleven  years  old.  Will  and  I  were  always  very  intimate  and 
the  best  of  companions.  It  was  always  a  great  thing  for  me  to  be  under 
the  protection  of  my  big  brother  until  I  had  reached  my  own  growth, 
for  he  was  a  perfect  giant  in  strength.  A  dozen  town  boys  one  day 
undertook  to  "pump"  him,  and  it  was  amusing  to  see  how  he  threw 
the  whole  set  off  and  hurled  them  in  every  direction,  as  easily  as  Sam- 
son carried  off  the  gates  of  Gaza.  They  never  offered  to  touch  me  in 
the  presence  of  such  a  champion.     I  continued  at  that  school   during 


1845-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  313 

the  summer  of  1856,  and  afterwards  went  to  our  district  school  for  a 
few  years,  but  from  an  early  period  I  was  always  at  some  kind  of  work 
on  the  farm,  if  not  at  school. 

Our  work  was  never  oppressive;  but  we  were  always  kept  busy,  and 
father  says.  In  his  record,  that  I  was  a  stout  boy  at  ten  years  of  age. 
The  old  house  that  was  abandoned  when  the  family  moved  into  the  new 
brick  house  in  1840  was  always  afterwards  used  for  a  shop,  and  here 
father  kept  all  sorts  of  tools.  He  was  himself  very  expert  in  the  use  of 
carpenter's  tools,  and  there  were  few  things  that  he  could  not  make, 
although  he  never  learned  the  trade.  His  boys  all  learned  to  use  these 
tools,  partly  because  the  genius  for  making  things  w.as  born  in  them,  and 
partly  because  the  tools  were  there  with  which  they  could  always  prac- 
tice, such  as  the  tools  of  the  carpenter,  the  joiner,  the  shoemaker,  the 
saddler  and  the  blacksmith.  It  was  unusual  to  find  all  these  tools  on  a 
farm;  but  father's  boys  picked  up  the  use  of  them  to  some  purpose. 
There  was  scarcely  anything  we  could  not  make  or  mend,  although  I 
believe  not  one  of  us  ever  made  a  wagon-wheel.  David,  John  and  Wil- 
liam could  shoe  horses ;  but  I  never  tried  to  do  that,  and  we  could  all 
make  harness  and  mend  shoes.  John  made  me  a  pair  of  little  shoes 
when  I  was  two  and  a  half  years  old,  so  father  says,  and  he  adds  that 
his  four  oldest  boys  could  make  shoes.  But  he  forgot  that  his  youngest 
boy  could  do  the  same  thing,  and  he  never  learned  from  any  one. 
When  I  was  fourteen  years  old,  I  made  five  pairs  of  shoes  for  myself 
and  other  members  of  the  family,  just  for  pastime  on  rainy  days,  and 
they  were  a  good  fit  and  wore  well. 

In  addition  to  this,  about  a  year  later,  I  made  five  sets  of  harness ; 
and,  indeed,  it  would  be  impossible  to  tell  how  many  things  I  made  and 
fixed  up,  aside  from  the  ordinary  farm  work,  during  my  boyhood  from 
thirteen  to  seventeen  years  of  age.  I  made  a  wagon  out  and  out,  all  but 
the  wheels ;  a  wheel  horse-rake,  all  but  the  wheels ;  a  machine  for  tying 
wool;  a  wheelbarroiv;  cider-press;  built  a  clay  oven;  re-built  the  chim- 
neys of  the  house,  and  re-shingled  the  house  and  barn.  Besides  all 
this,  I  re-painted  all  the  inside  of  the  house,  and  papered  several  of  the 
rooms. 

The  summer  of  1864,  while  William  was  away  in  the  army,  I  one 
day  built  from  the  ground  up  one  hundred  panels   of  worm  fence,  six 


314  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1845-1890. 

rails  high,  and  each  corner  locked  with  stakes.  This  was  all  done  by 
myself  alone  in  one  day,  in  which  I  handled  eight  hundred  rails.  The 
same  summer  our  neighbor,  Joseph  McConnell,  and  I  cradled  eight 
acres  of  oats  all  in  a  single  day.  That  summer  of  1864  I  went  for  two 
or  three  days  to  the  great  Sanitary  Fair,  which  was  held  in  Allegheny, 
and  there  I  heard,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  the  Oratorio  of  the 
Messiah. 

During  the  winter  of  1861-62  I  attended  the  High  School  in  town, 
and  made  good  progress  in  my  studies,  and  the  spring  of  1863  I  left 
home  for  the  first  time  that  I  was  ever  away  from  my  mother  longer 
than  three  weeks. 

I  had  reached  my  full  height  of  si.x  feet  one  year  previous  to  this 
time,  when  I  was  17,  and  now,  when  I  was  18, 1  started  in  April,  1863,  to 
Dunlap's  Creek  Academy  at  Merrittstown,  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  of  which 
Prof  D.  Harvey  Sloan  was  then  Principal.  On  my  birthday,  two  months 
before,  my  sister  Susan  had  presented  me  with  my  first  watch,  which  I 
highly  appreciated,  arid  which  I  carried  for  fifteen  years.  At  the  acad- 
emy I  remained  just  one  year,  and  would  have  remained  one  year 
longer,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  calling  out  of  the  One  Hundred  Days' 
Men,  by  which  I  had  to  remain  at  home  the  summer  of  1864;  for  it  was 
Prof.  Sloan's  desire  to  prepare  me  for  the  Junior  Class  in  College  in 
another  year.  However,  the  fall  of  1864,  I  found  myself  just  ready  to 
enter  the  Freshman  Class  regularly  without  any  conditions,  and  I  there- 
fore entered  Freshman  in  Washington  College,  Washington,  Pa. 

I  boarded  in  the  family  of  the  Rev.  John  W.  Scott,  D.D.,  who  was 
the  President  of  the  College.  He  lived  just  outside  the  town,  in  the 
house  which  is  now  occupied  by  Trinity  Hall,  and  my  room-mate  was 
Francis  J.  Newton,  of  India.  Mrs.  Comingo,  wife  of  my  former  pastor 
at  Steubenville,  and  her  two  sons,  Edward  G.  and  Neville  B.,  who  were 
both  in  my  class,  also  boarded  there.  The  Washington  people  were 
always  very  kind  and  cordial  toward  me,  and  I  have  never  ceased  to 
look  back  to  my  college  experiences  in  Washington  with  a  great  deal 
of  pleasure.  Very  soon  I  was  invited  to  sing  in  the  choir  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brownson  was  pastor,  and 
I  continued  as  a  member  of  the  choir  while  I  remained  in  Washington. 
I   united  with   the  Washington  Literary  Society,  and   it  was  not  long 


1845-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  315 

until  I  was  invited  to  become  a  member  of  the  Beta  Theta  Pi  Fraternity, 
which  I  joined.  But  the  spring  of  1865  the  two  Colleges  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson  were  united,  and,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  union,  the 
Sophomore,  Junior  and  Senior  Classes  of  the  Classical  Department  were 
to  be  educated  over  at  Canonsburgh,  while  the  Freshman  and  Prepara- 
tory Classes,  together  with  the  Scientific  Department,  were  to  be  in 
Washington.  It  therefore  became  necessary  for  me  to  go  to  Canons- 
burg  the  fall  of  1865  to  enter  the  Sophomore  Class,  and  that  year  I 
roomed  with  Leander  C.  Woolfolk,  of  Louisville,  who  was  a  Senior.  I 
joined  the  Philo  Literaiy  Society,  and  continued  with  the  Beta  Frater- 
nity in  the  Gamma  Chapter.  Throughout  the  three  years  that  I  spent 
in  Canonsburg  I  sang  in  the  choir  of  the  church.  My  voice  had 
changed  when  I  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  from  that  time  until  I  went 
away  from  home  to  school  I  sang  bass  in  the  choir  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Steubenville. 

During  my  Sophomore  year  at  college,  I  made  the  acquaintance, 
which  proved  to  be  a  life-long  friendship,  of  two  classmates,  Josiah 
Welsh  and  James  Harris  Stewart,  and  this  bond  was  broken  only  by  the 
early  death  of  Mr.  Welsh  in  1877.  He  established  the  first  Presbyterian 
church  that  was  ever  organized  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  continued  as  its 
pastor  until  his  death.  During  my  Junior  and  Senior  years  my  room- 
mate was  my  friend  Harry  Stewart,  mentioned  above.  While  I  was  a 
Senior  I  was  elected,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Faculty,  a  member 
of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  Sciences  of  the  College.  There  were  si.xty 
members  of  our  class,  forty-nine  Classical  and  eleven  Scientific. 

My  class  grade  was  eighth  in  a  class  of  forty-nine  members,  and, 
singularly  enough,  Josiah  Welsh  and  I  were  bracketed  together  in  the 
same  grade.  I  was  put  on  Commencement,  and  made  a  speech  on  that 
occasion  on  the  subject,  "  Latter  Day  Giants."  Our  class  was  graduated 
on  August  5,  1868,  and  the  Commencement  was  held  in  Canonsburg. 

This  was  the  last  Commencement  that  was  ever  held  in  Canonsburg 
in  old  Providence  Hall,  for  the  class  of  1869  had  their  Commencement 
in  Washington,  and  in  1870  the  whole  college  was  consolidated  in 
W^ashington. 

When  I  first  started  to  college  my  sister  Nancy  gave  me  this  piece  of 
invaluable  advice:  "  Thomas,  when  you  are  away  at  college,  you  may 


316  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1845-1890. 

look  at  the  girls  and  go  with  them  as  much  as  you  please,  but  you  must 
not  fall  in  love  with  any  one  until  you  are  through  college."  This  ex- 
cellent advice  I  followed  strictly  for  four  years,  and  I  came  out  of  college 
life  untouched  by  the  darts  of  Cupid. 

But  it  so  happened  that  on  my  return  home  from  College  Commence- 
ment, I  went  in  a  few  days  with  my  sister  Sarah  on  a  visit  to  our  sister 
Su.san,  Mrs.  Culbertson  Orr,  in  Clarion  County,  Pa.  While  on  that  trip, 
we  visited  our  friends  in  Clarion,  the  Rev.  James  S.  Elder  and  wife,  and 
there,  for  the  first  time,  on  Saturday,  August  15,  1868,  I  met  Miss  Mary 
R.  Campbell,  who  was  home  at  that  time  on  vacation  from  Vassar  Col- 
lege, and  who  afterwards  became  my  wife. 

Throughout  my  college  course  I  had  had  the  ministry  in  view,  and 
accordingly,  in  September,  1868,  I  went  to  Chicago,  and  spent  my  first 
year  at  the  Northwestern  Theological  Seminary.  The  summer  of  1869 
I  spent  at  home  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  that  fall  I  went  to  Princeton.  After 
spending  my  second  and  third  years  in  theological  studies  there,  I  was 
graduated  in  a  class  of  thirty-three  in  April,  1871. 

However,  I  had  been  licensed  to  preach  at  the  end  of  my  second  year 
of  study,  on  April  27,  1870,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Steubenville.  Soon 
after  that  I  set  out,  in  company  with  my  friend  Josiah  Welsh,  to  spend 
our  summer  vacation  of  1870  preaching  in  the  west  under  commission 
from  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  We  reported  to  the  Rev.  Shel- 
don Jackson,  at  Council  Bluffs,  and  he  assigned  us  our  work.  Mr. 
Welsh  went  over  into  Nebraska  to  West  Point,  in  the  Elk  Horn  Valley, 
and  I  remained  in  Pottawattamie  County,  Iowa,  five  miles  out  from 
Council  Bluffs.  We  preached  for  three  months  and  gathered  congrega- 
tions together,  and  before  we  left  for  the  east  again  churches  were  organ- 
ized at  each  place.  Just  before  leaving  Princeton  the  spring  of  1871,  I 
received  a  cordial  call  from  Snow  Hill,  Md.,  but  I  thought  it  best  to 
decline  it. 

Part  of  that  summer  I  spent  in  supplying  churches  under  the  direction 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Steubenville,  and  was  called  to  the  church  of  New 
Philadelphia,  Ohio,  but  this  I  declined.  About  the  1st  of  July  I  was 
invited  to  supply  the  Westminster  Church  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  there 
I  preached  for  three  months  with  a  great  deal  of  interest.  In  Septem- 
ber I  received  a  most  cordial  call  to  that  church,  but  just  about  that  time 


1845-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  317 

I  was  seized  with  malarial  fever,  and  fearing  the  influence  of  the  climate, 
I  declined  the  call.  In  November,  1871,  I  was  called  to  Mifflintown, 
Pa.,  and  accepted,  to  begin  my  work  there  January  i,  1872.  In  the 
meantime  I  supplied  for  five  Sabbaths  the  Second  Church  of  Steuben- 
ville,  as  that  church  had  just  called  the  Rev.  James  A.  Worden,  who  was 
to  begin  his  work  there  on  the  first  of  January. 

On  December  21,  1871,  I  was  married  in  Clarion,  Pa.,  to  Miss  Mary 
R.,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Hon.  James  Campbell,  who  had  recently  com- 
pleted his  full  term  as  President  Judge  of  the  i8th  Judicial  District  of 
Pennsylvania. 

The  ceremony  was  performed  by  the  Rev.  James  S.  Elder,  at  9  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and  it  was  the  coldest  morning  of  the  winter,  the  ther- 
mometer standing  at  sixteen  degrees  below  zero.  The  following  day 
our  reception  was  given  at  the  old  home  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  in  a  few  days 
we  went  to  New  York  to  visit  my  brother  Robert,  after  which  we  came 
to  Mifflintown,  ready  for  the  first  Sabbath  of  January,  1872.  On  June 
1 1,  1872,  I  was  ordained  and  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon. 
While  living  in  Mifflintown,  three  children  were  born  to  us  :  Virginia, 
June  4,  1873;  Hallock  Campbell,  June  22,  1875,  and  Mary  Campbell, 
August  30,  1879.  The  summer  of  1877  my  wife  Mary  and  I  took  what 
we  called  our  "  second  wedding  journey,"  leaving  our  two  children  in 
Clarion  with  the  friends. 

We  were  gone  two  weeks,  and  visited  Niagara  Falls  ;  Little  Falls  ;  Sar- 
atoga ;  Glens  Falls ;  Lake  George ;  Lake  Champlain ;  friends  at  Peru, 
Clinton  County,  N.  Y. ;  Ausable  Chasm  ;  and  New  York  City.  I  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1878,  which  met  in  Pittsburgh. 
The  spring  of  1880  I  resigned  my  charge  in  Mifflintown,  and  we  spent 
the  summer  in  Clarion.  For  two  months  of  that  summer  I  supplied  the 
church  of  Corry,  Pa.,  and  received  a  very  earnest  call  from  them,  which 
I  seriously  considered  but  at  length  declined.  In  September,  1880,  I 
accepted  a  call  from  the  church  of  Brookville,  Pa.,  and  was  installed  over 
that  church  by  the  Presbytery  of  Clarion,  November  11,  1880. 

In  February,  1883,  I  received  such  an  urgent  call  from  the  church  of 
Honey  Brook,  Pa.,  that  I  felt  constrained  to  accept  it.  We  moved  there 
the  first  of  April,  and  I  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Chester, 
April  21,  1883. 


318  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1S4-5-1890. 

For  several  j'ears  I  had  been  interested  in  the  subject  of  a  Marriage 
License  Law  for  Pennsylvania,  similar  to  that  in  effect  in  Ohio.  But 
public  sentiment  did  not  appear  to  be  sufficiently  aroused  until  there  had 
been  several  prosecutions  of  clergymen  for  performing  the  marriage 
ceremony  in  the  case  of  minors  without  the  consent  of  parents,  although 
in  some  cases  the  clergyman  was  imposed  upon  by  the  parties  misrepre- 
senting their  ages. 

On  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  it  was  held  that  under  the  old  law 
there  was  no  protection  for  a  clergyman  or  other  person  performing  the 
ceremony,  and  that  he  was  liable  to  the  fine  of  $133.33,  unless  he  had 
the  positive  consent  of  parent  or  guardian.  Indeed  so  stringent  was  the 
interpretation  of  this  old  law,  that  a  father  present  at  the  marriage  of 
his  minor  daughter,  and  yet  not  positively  consenting,  could  recover  the 
fine.  Fortunately  I  had  never  gotten  into  any  difficulty  on  this  score 
myself,  but  it  was  only  by  constant  vigilance  and  diligent  inquiry  that  I 
was  able  to  decide  cases  of  minors  desiring  to  be  married. 

When  the  subject  came  up  in  the  Legislature  of  1885,  there  were  three 
or  four  different  bills  relating  to  marriage  before  that  body,  but  the  one 
that  finally  became  the  new  law  of  Pennsylvania,  was  a  bill  that  I 
furnished  to  Senator  Harlan  of  Chester  County.  I  did  not  frame  it,  nor 
have  I  ever  been  able  to  learn  who  was  the  original  author  of  it,  but  it 
had  been  in  my  possession  since  1877,  when  it  had  been  sent  to  me  by 
Senator  Crawford  of  Juniata  County.  At  that  time  it  was  a  Senate  Bill 
in  the  Legislature,  but  as  there  was  not  sufficient  public  sentiment  on  the 
subject  in  that  day,  it  was  rejected  by  the  Committee  of  the  Senate.  This 
bill  seemed  to  me  to  be  so  excellent  in  its  provisions,  and  contained  so 
fully  the  desirable  features  of  a  Marriage  License  Law,  that  I  sent  it  in 
January,  1885,  to  Senator  Harlan  of  Chester  County,  explaining  to  him, 
as  far  as  I  knew,  the  origin  of  this  bill.  He  at  once  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  subject,  and  offered  it  in  the  Senate,  and  with  great  dili- 
gence watched  its  progress  through  the  Legislature. 

It  was  amended  in  a  i^w  particulars,  including  the  repeal  of  the  old 
law  of  1798,  but  its  provisions  remained  substantially  the  same  until  it 
was  finally  passed  by  both  Houses,  and  was  signed  by  Governor  Pattison 
June  23,  1885.     The  new  law  went  into  effect  October  i,  1885. 

There  was  annoyance   for  a   few  years   in  some  counties  by  reason  of 


1845-1890.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  319 

the  clerks  requiring  both  parties  to  appear  before  him  to  make  apph'ca- 
tion  for  a  license,  but  the  bill  that  I  sent  to  Senator  Harlan  had  no  such 
provision  in  it,  nor  did  it  have  when  it  finally  passed  the  Legislature, 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  to  re- 
quire both  parties  to  appear.  The  whole  trouble  arose  from  a  change 
by  a  transcribing  clerk  from  the  word  "  party,"  as  really  passed  by  the 
Legislature  to  "parties,"  and  no  man  has  ever  been  able  to  explain 
whether  the  change  was  made  before  or  after  the  Governor's  signature 
was  affixed. 

On  July  30,  1885,  our  fourth  child  was  born,  and  we  named  him 
Robert  Andrew,  expressly  for  my  father,  and  he  is  the  only  Robert  An- 
drew Sherrard  in  the  connection. 

In  1886  I  was  elected  Permanent  Clerk  of  the  Presbytery  of  Chester, 
which  position  I  still  hold.  I  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
1889,  which  met  in  New  York.  I  remained  pastor  of  the  church  of 
Honey  Brook  until  October  i,  1889,  when  I  removed  with  my  family  to 
Washington,  Pa.,  in  order  that  our  children  might  have  the  educational 
advantages  of  that  place.  Virginia  and  May  attend  the  Seminary,  and 
Hallock  is  in  the  Middle  Preparatory  class  in  College,  while  Robert  en- 
joys his  life  by  going  often  over  to  the  Seminary  to  see  his  grandmother 
Sherrard.  At  the  present  time,  February,  1 890,  when  he  is  four  and  a 
half  years  old,  he  has  learned  to  read  readily.  He  can  tell  the  time  of 
day  instantly  and  accurately  on  a  clock  or  watch.  He  has  also  learned 
to  write  nicely  on  my  Remington  type-writer,  and  by  writing  off  himself 
the  different  lines  of  the  Multiplication  Table,  and  reading  them  over  two 
or  three  times,  he  has  learned  the  whole  table,  and  can  recite  it  perfectly, 
even  through  the  sixteenth  line.  This  he  has  done  simply  as  pastime, 
for  we  have  not  attempted  to  teach  him  either  reading  or  figures.  At 
the  present  time  he  shows  a  particular  fondness  for  figures,  and  he  has 
as  many  as  fifteen  Calendars  for  1890  among  his  treasures.  My  chil- 
dren have  all  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  preparation  and  progress  of 
this  history.  The  height  of  Virginia,  March  i,  1890,  is  5,8;  Hallock, 
5.7;  May,  4.111^;  and  Robert,  3.75-^;  while  that  of  their  mother  is 
S-3}4-  My  own  height  is  six  feet  and  half  an  inch,  and  my  weight  is 
175  pounds.  Later. — On  Saturday,  April  12,  1890,  I  was  unanimously 
elected  pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Chambersburg,  Pa. 


320  the  sherrard  family.  [1873. 

father's  last  illness. 

For  several  years  previous  to  his  death  my  father  continued  in  excel- 
lent health,  and  as  he  grew  older  there  was  no  marked  change  in  him. 
He  continued  his  reading  and  writing  as  pastime,  and  was  much  out 
around  the  farm  and  orchard  attending  to  little  things  that  he  chose  to 
do.     He  often  went  to  town,  and  was  regularly  at  church. 

Almost  every  year  he  made  some  extended  trip  and  visit  among  rela- 
tives in  company  with  mother.  In  November,  1867,  he  spent  three 
weeks  at  uncle  David's,  and  also  in  Clarion  County  at  Culbertson  Orr's, 
where  mother  had  been  visiting,  and  they  came  home  together.  In  No- 
vember, 1868,  he  and  mother  took  an  extended  trip  to  Fremont  and  Bu- 
cyrus,  to  visit  David  and  John,  and  in  June,  1869,  they  made  a  visit  of  a 
week  or  more  at  Joseph  Kithcart's  on  Short  Creek  and  to  friends  in  and 
around  Mount  Pleasant. 

They  made  a  visit  of  two  weeks  in  October,  1870,  to  uncle  David's, 
and  again  in  November,  1 871,  they  made  another  visit  to  sister  Susan  in 
Clarion  County,  this  time  taking  with  them  their  grand-daughter  Rosa- 
mond C.  Hill. 

Father's  last  visit  away  from  home  was  in  August,  1873,  only  four 
months  before  his  death,  and  he  was  at  that  time  as  well  as  usual,  and 
greatly  enjoyed  his  time  among  the  friends  at  Mount  Pleasant.  Mother 
was  with  him  on  this  trip,  and  they  remained  two  weeks,  returning  home 
September  4,  1873.  Father  kept  up  his  daily  Journal  with  his  usual  in- 
terest and  clear  statement  of  events  all  through  that  fall.  In  September, 
1873,  Mary  and  I  visited  home  at  Sugar  Hill,  having  with  us  our  little 
Virginia,  who  was  then  three  months  old.  We  spent  two  weeks  at 
home,  and  it  is  one  of  the  delightful  impressions  of  that  visit  to  remem- 
ber the  great  interest  that  father  had  in  this  little  grand-daughter  Vir- 
ginia, and  to  see  the  aged  grand-father  of  nearly  eighty  five  years  leaving 
his  writing  and  getting  down  on  his  knees  beside  her  on  the  floor  to 
play  with  her.  This  was  the  only  time  that  Virginia  ever  saw  her  grand- 
father Sherrard. 

While  on  that  visit  I  preached  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Steubenville  on  September  21st  and  father  was  present  to  hear  me.  He 
was  at  church  only  three  more  Sabbaths,  the  last  being  on  November 


1874.1  FAMILY  HISTORY.  321 

9th,  which  was  Communion.  He  was,  however,  busy  as  usual  in  vari- 
ous ways  for  some  weeks  later,  engaged  in  writing,  or  working  about 
the  shop  or  barn,  until  Friday,  December  19th,  when  he  went  to  town 
as  a  witness  in  Court.  He  took  cold  that  day  which  prostrated  him  in 
the  course  of  another  day,  and  Saturday  about  midnight  he  was  taken  sick. 

From  this  time  he  grew  weaker  gradually,  and  in  a  week's  time  his 
situation  became  so  critical  that  all  of  his  twelve  children  came  home  to 
see  him.  By  Tuesday,  December  30,  he  lost  the  power  of  speech,  and 
on  Thursday,  Januar)''  i,  1874,  he  peacefully  passed  away,  surrounded  by 
his  family,  breathing  his  last  at  i  o'clock,  P.  M. 

As  brother  William  recorded  in  father's  Journal  for  that  day :  "  He 
went  to  his  rest  in  peace  at  a  ripe  old  age  without  a  struggle,  and  his 
pleasant  memory  will  ever  remain  with  his  family." 

The  funeral  wis  the  next  day  at  i  o'clock,  P.  M.,and  father  was  buried 
in  the  family  vault  in  the  Steubenville  Cemetery.  The  funeral  services 
were  conducted  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  A.  McCurdy,  assisted 
by  the  Rev.  Charles  C.  Beatty,  D.D.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  flay  all 
the  family  assembled  together  in  the  east  room  of  the  old  home  at  Sugar 
Hill,  when  father's  last  Will  was  read,  and  all  with  one  accord  acqui- 
esced in  the  provisions  made  in  the  Will.  Father  had  named  in  his  Will 
his  son,  William  H.  Sherrard,  as  his  Executor. 

THE   LIFE   OF    WILLIAM   HENRY  SHERRARD. 

W^hen  my  brother  William  became  old  enough  to  have  his  own  pre- 
ferences, he  dropped  the  "  Harrison"  out  of  his  name,  not  that  he  loved 
his  father's  political  principles  less,  but  a  convenient  name  more,  so  that 
ever  after  he  used  the  middle  name  of  "  Henry."  He  was  always  kind 
and  amiable  in  his  disposition,  and  a  universal  favorite. 

He  and  I  were  together  daily  for  years — at  play,  at  work  and  at  school 
— and  a  more  delightful  companion,  or  a  more  unselfish  and  pure-minded 
boy  and  man  I  have  never  known.  For  long  years  he  was  especially  the 
kind  and  thoughtful  companion  of  our  sister  Sarah  who  could  not  walk, 
takingcare  that  she  had  every  comfort  and  pleasure  that  could  be  afforded 
by  his  efforts.  He  and  I  were  separated  first  when  he  went  to  Circle- 
ville,  Ohio,  to  attend  the  High  School  the  winter  of  1859-60,  as  sister 
Nancy  was  teaching  there  that  year. 


322  THE  SHERRAHD  FAMILY.  [1859-1875. 

He  spent  the  winter  of  1861-2  with  brother  John  in  Rimersburg,  Pa., 
where  he  attended  school  at  the  Clarion  Collegiate  Institute.  The  fall 
of  1862  he  went  to  Dunlap's  Creek  Academy,  at  Merrittstown,  Pa.,  and 
remained  a  full  session  of  five  months.  By  his  earnest  Christian  charac- 
ter, and  his  faithfulness  in  his  studies,  he  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
the  whole  school,  and  his  associates  there  bear  testimony  to  this  day  of 
the  influence  of  Will  Sherrard  upon  their  lives  for  good.  He  was  not 
only  a  good  student  in  every  sense,  but  much  above  the  average  in  his 
attainments.  He  returned  home  the  spring  of  1863  and  said  to  me  that 
I  must  now  go  to  school,  and  he  would  stay  at  home.  This  was  the 
close  of  his  school  days,  for  although  he  loved  study,  and  father  fully 
intended  that  both  Will  and  I  should  have  a  full  College  course,  yet  he 
could  not  be  induced  to  return  to  school,  insisting  that  I  must  go.  And 
the  only  explanation  that  I  could  ever  give  was  that  he  felt  that  one  of 
us  must  stay  at  home  with  father  in  his  declining  days,  and  he  chose 
to  be  that  one,  desiring  in  his  unselfishness  that  I  should  have  the 
full  College  course. 

However  all  this  may  be,  I  started  to  the  Academy,  and  Will  re- 
mained at  home  in  the  management  of  the  farm,  in  which  he  was 
successful  in  providing  a  delightful  and  comfortable  home  for  father 
and  mother  in  their  declining  years,  and  in  keeping  up  the  old  home 
at  Sugar  Hill  in  all  its  pleasant  surroundings  and  associations  for  the 
brothers  and  sisters  whenever  they  would  return. 

His  soul  was  full  of  music,  and  he  developed  a  rich  and  deep  bass 
voice  of  unusual  compass  and  power.  At  an  early  age  he  began  to 
sing  in  the  choir  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville,  and 
for  a  number  of  years,  in  his  later  life,  he  was  the  leader  of  the  choir. 

Wherever  he  was  known,  at  home  or  abroad,  people  were  struck 
with  that  wonderful  voice  of  his,  which,  in  its  purity,  was  so  attractive, 
and  yet  in  its  depth  of  power  would  fairly  make  the  building  tremble 
with  its  vibrations.  It  is  not  too  much  for  me  to  say  that  he  was  the 
finest  bass  singer  in  Steubenville  in  his  day. 

During  his  experience  in  the  One  Hundred  Days'  Service  the  summer 
of  1864  he  was  seriously  ill  owing  to  the  unhealthfulness  of  Fort  Dela- 
ware, and  for  some  weeks  he  lay  in  the  hospital  at  the  Relay  House 
near  Baltimore. 


1875.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  323 

He  came  home  in  the  late  summer  with  his  constitution  much  injured 
from  his  exposure,  and  was  afflicted  for  a  time  with  inflammatory  rheu- 
matism. From  this  he  fully  recovered  that  fall,  but  he  never  afterwards 
was  the  thoroughly  strong  and  vigorous  man  that  he  was  before. 

On  November  9,  1872,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Deacon  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville,  and  was  ordained  the  ist  of 
December  following.  He  always  took  a  deep  interest  in  this,  the  church 
of  his  birth  and  baptism,  and  the  church  into  which  he  was  received  to 
full  communion  February  20,  1858. 

In  August,  1873,  he  and  sister  Sarah  took  a  delightful  trip  together 
to  Niagara,  when  they  were  gone  for  about  a  week.  They  made  us  a 
very  pleasant  visit  at  our  home  in  Mifflintown  during  the  holidays  of 
1874.  Will  went  on  to  Philadelphia  the  day  before  Christmas  and  returned 
to  Mifflintown  that  night,  bringing  some  beautiful  presents  for  our  little 
daughter  Virginia,  whom  he  dearly  loved,  and  in  whom  he  had  always 
taken  a  great  interest. 

He  and  Sarah  seemed  to  thoroughly  enjoy  their  visit,  and  we  all  had 
a  delightful  time  together. 

After  father's  death  William  continued  the  management  of  the  farm 
as  usual,  as  father,  by  his  will,  had  left  the  farm  to  him,  with  the  condi- 
tion of  the  payment  of  certain  legacies,  and  William,  as  the  executor  of 
father's  will,  undertook  the  duties  devolving  upon  him  in  the  exercise 
of  that  trust.  However,  his  health  began  to  fail  during  the  spring  and 
early  summer  of  1875,  and  he  seemed  not  able  to  rally  from  the  break- 
ing down  of  his  bodily  powers,  even  under  the  best  medical  treatment. 

He  passed  away  from  this  life  August  18,  1875,  a  young  man  of  only 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  yet  that  life  had  been  full  of  love  and  good 
works  for  others.  So  passed  away  one  who  was  the  best  of  sons  and 
brothers  ;  one  who  was  lovely  in  his  life,  and  in  whose  death  the  family 
chain  was  first  broken. 

His  funeral  was  on  August  20th,  the  services  being  conducted  by 
the  Rev.  Henry  Woods  of  Washington,  Pa.,  a  former  pastor  of  our 
family.  He  was  present  by  special  invitation,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville  was,  at  that  time,  without  a 
pastor.  The  interment  was  in  the  family  vault  in  the  Steubenville 
Cemetery. 


324  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1875. 

THE   FAMILY   REMOVE   TO   WASHINGTON. 

After  the  deatti  of  my  brother  William,  on  the  request  of  mother, 
the  Probate  Judge  appointed  Robert  Sherrard,  Jr.,  and  Joseph  Kithcart 
executors  of  father's  will  instead  of  William  H.  Sherrard  deceased,  and 
they  still  hold  that  position  up  to  the  present  time. 

There  was  then  no  one  left  to  manage  the  farm  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  sell  or  rent  the  farm. 

The  sale  of  personal  property  was  held  on  October  i,  1875,  when  the 
farm  was  also  offered  for  sale,  but  it  was  not  sold  at  that  time.  It  was 
the  desire  of  sister  Nancy  to  have  mother,  Jane  and  Sarah  live  with 
her  at  Washington,  Pa.,  as  she  had  one  year  before  become  Principal  of 
Washington  Female  Seminary  at  that  place. 

They,  therefore,  removed  to  Washington  in  October,  1S75,  and  the 
old  home  at  Sugar  Hill  was  abandoned  forever,  never  again  to  witness 
the  happy  family  reunions. 

The  farm  was  rented  for  a  few  years,  and  was  finally  sold  in  1882  to 
J.  D.  Tweed  for  the  sum  of  $12,500. 

DE.ATH   OF  JOSEPH   KITHCART  SHERRARD. 

My  brother  Joseph  remained  unmarried,  and  always  made  his  home 
with  the  family  at  Sugar  Hill,  until  the  removal  to  Washington,  and 
from  that  time  he  made  his  home  chiefly  with  sister  Mary  Anne,  although 
he  spent  much  of  his  time  with  sister  Elizabeth  at  Mount  Pleasant. 

Being  economical  in  his  habits,  he  was  independent  in  his  means,  and 
possessed  a  considerable  estate  in  his  later  life.  For  some  twenty-five 
years  before  his  death  he  had  not  worked  regularly  on  the  farm,  but  was 
employed  in  Steubenville,  part  of  the  time  in  a  store,  and  for  some  years 
in  one  of  the  banks  of  that  place.  But  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life 
he  spent  his  time  in  leisure.  He  always  retained  his  membership  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville,  with  which  he  had  united 
February  9,  1840.  He  was  remarkably  active  and  diligent  in  any  kind 
of  work  whatever,  but  unfortunately  he  injured  his  back  by  overlifting 
in  the  vigor  of  young  manhood,  and  ever  after  that  he  suffered  more  or 
less  from  that  cause.  During  the  earlier  years,  before  William  came  to 
manhood,  father  always  looked  to  Joseph,  his  eldest  son,  for   counsel  in 


1889.]  FAMILY  HISTORY.  325 

the  management  of  the  farm.  His  strength  gradually  failed  as  his  years 
increased,  until  his  health  gave  way  in  1883.  He  grew  much  weaker 
the  following  winter,  and  his  life  passed  out  peacefully  and  quietly  on 
Saturday,  April  12,  1884,  just  after  midnight,  at  the  home  of  his  sister 
Mary  Anne,  Mrs.  Joseph  W.  Hill.  The  funeral  was  held  on.  the  follow- 
ing Monday,  the  services  being  conducted  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  W.  M. 
Grimes,  D.  D.,  and  the  interment  was  in  the  family  vault  in  the  Steuben- 
ville  Cemetery.  He  left  a  will  in  which  he  designated  his  brother  R. 
Sherrard,  Jr.,  his  executor. 

DEATH    OF   SARAH   SHERRARD. 

My  sister  Sarah,  although  she  was  never  able  to  walk  from  the  time 
she  was  five  and  a  half  years  old,  was  always  the  centre  of  life  and  hap- 
piness in  the  family,  and  she  was  a  very  dear  sister  and  companion  to  her 
younger  brothers  William  and  Thomas.  No  matter  where  we  were,  on 
our  return  home  we  were  sure  of  a  smile  and  pleasant  word  of  greeting 
from  our  sister  Sarah,  and  with  the  greatest  interest  and  sympathy  she 
would  always  enter  into  our  plans,  and  give  an  attentive  ear  to  the 
recital  of  all  our  experiences.  One  winter  while  Will  was  away  at  school 
Sarah  and  I  spent  many  of  our  evenings  playing  chess.  Her  cheerful 
voice  was  often  heard  in  laughter  or  in  singing  about  her  work,  for  like 
all  of  father's  children  she  was  a  good  singer.  She  never  sang  in  the 
choir,  but  nearly  all  the  others  did  at  various  times,  for  there  was  not  a 
time  in  forty  years  in  the  history  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Steubenville  when  there  was  not  some  of  father's  children  singing  in  the 
choir,  and  often  two  or  three  at  a  time. 

As  has  been  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  history,  Sarah  was  a  great 
lover  of  flowers,  and  worked  a  great  deal  in  the  summer  in  her  garden. 
After  removing  to  Washington  she  continued  the  cultivation  of  flowers 
for  her  own  pleasure,  and  that  others  might  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
them.  She  went  regularly  to  church  in  Washington  as  she  had  done  in 
Steubenville,  and  rode  out  every  good  day  in  the  carriage  for  her  health. 
She  often  took  extended  trips  in  company  with  one  of  her  sisters,  and 
her  colored  attendant  William  Lane.  In  this  way  she  visited  the  Cen- 
tennial in  1876,  and  different  times  she  visited  the  sea-shore,  and  was 
also  at  New  York,  as  well  as   Philadelphia.     She  was  seriously  afflicted 


326  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY.  [1889. 

with  neuralgia  in  later  years,  and  her  health  became  much  broken 
through  suffering,  until  she  grew  gradually  weaker  during  the  summer 
and  fall  of  1888.  Her  life  was  full  of  usefulness  and  pleasure  to  others, 
and  through  life  she  was  mother's  constant  companion.  Her  acquaint- 
ance was  wide  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  owing  to  the  many  friends 
who  visited  at  father's  house  at  Sugar  Hill,  and  besides  she  made  many 
pleasant  acquaintances  at  the  Steubenville  Female  Seminary,  where  she 
was  always  a  welcome  visitor. 

The  circle  of  her  friendship  was  widened  during  the  years  of  her  resi- 
dence in  Washington,  so  that  many  are  the  friends,  aside  from  her  own 
immediate  family,  who  miss  her  cheerful  face  and  sprightly  conversation. 

She  died  in  peace  and  the  hope  of  that  blessed  life  where  there  shall 
be  "  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain," 
passing  away  from  this  life  on  Monday  evening  March  4,  1889.  The 
funeral  services  were  conducted  by  her  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brownson, 
at  the  seminary  on  Tuesday  evening,  and  the  interment  was  private  at 
Steubenville  on  Wednesday. 

THE   PASTORS  OF   OUR   FAMILY. 

When  the  family  moved  to  Sugar  Hill  the  spring  of  1833  father  and 
mother  at  once  connected  themselves  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Steubenville,  bringing  their  certificates  from  Centre.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Beatty  was  then  pastor,  and  he  continued  until  1837,  when  he  resigned 
in  order  to  give  his  whole  time  to  his  seminary. 

The  Rev.  Henry  G.  Comingo,  a  young  student  from  Princeton,  then 
became  pastor  in  1837,  and  continued  pastor  for  twenty-five  years  until 
his  death  December  i,  1861.  He  was  succeeded  in  1862  by  the  Rev. 
Henry  Woods,  a  young  student  from  Allegheny,  and  he  remained  si.x 
years,  when  he  resigned  and  became  Professor  of  Latin  in  Washington 
and  Jefferson  College,  which  position  he  still  occupies.  His  successor 
as  pastor  in  Steubenville  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  A.  McCurdy,  who  came 
in  January,  1868,  and  left  the  spring  of  1875,  having  accepted  a  call  to 
Wooster,  Ohio.  The  church  was  without  a  pastor  when  the  family 
removed  to  Washington  in  the  fall  of  1875.  Mother  and  my  sisters,  Jane 
and  Sarah,  brought  their  certificates  over  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Washington,  Pa.,  of  which   the   Rev.    Dr.  Brownson  was  pastor,  and 


1890.]  FAMIL  Y  HSSTOR  Y.  327 

he  remains  in  charge  of  that  church  up  to  the  present  time.  All  of 
father's  children  have  been  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  all 
of  the  nine  children  now  living  still  remain  members  of  the  Presbyter- 
ian church  wherever  they  may  be  living. 

All  were  received  into  full  communion  in  the  First  church  of  Steuben- 
ville  in  early  life,  except  David,  who  became  a  member  of  the  church  in 
Fremont,  Ohio,  after  he  had  made  his  home  out  there. 


CLOSING   WORDS   AND   SCENES. 

My  task  is  done.  It  was  father's  earnest  wish  toward  the  close  of  his 
life  that  his  life-work  in  collecting  the  materials  of  his  Family  History 
might  be  appreciated  by  his  posterity.  Much  more  that  would  be  inter- 
esting might  be  given,  but  it  would  make  a  volume  of  vast  dimensions. 
It  has  been  my  object  to  select,  out  of  the  mass  of  material  left  on  record, 
such  facts  and  incidents  as  ought  to  be  preserved  to  make  a  connected 
Family  History  of  permanent  value. 

This  volume  closes  with  the  family  home  at  Washington,  for  while 
mother  still  abides  with  us,  the  home  will  ever  remain  where  she  is 
found,  and  there  her  children  still  gather  from  their  distant  homes,  to 
express  their  words  of  loving  interest  and  affection,  and  listen  to  her 
words  of  counsel.  She  is  still  in  the  enjoyment  of  excellent  health,  with 
mind  perfectly  clear  to  enjoy  the  companionship  of  her  children  and 
friends  who  may  come  in  to  call  on  her.  It  has  been  one  of  the 
most  delightful  privileges  of  my  life  to  be  able  to  spend  the  past  few 
months  near  her,  and  while  preparing  the  latter  part  of  this  history  to  go 
over  to  the  Seminary  often  to  see  her,  and  read  to  her  every  evening 
what  I  have  written  during  the  day.  And  it  has  been  to  her  a  great 
pleasure  to  hear  it,  while  she  herself  testifies  that  the  facts  as  herein  pre- 
sented are  correct.  It  has  added  no  little  pleasure  to  her  life  to  have  my 
little  Robert  Andrew,  her  youngest  grand-son,  four  years  and  a  half  old, 
come  in  to  see  her  daily.  To  all  who  know  her  in  her  beautiful  old  age, 
it  will  ever  be  one  of  the  pleasantest  remembrances  to  think  of  her  as 
she  sits  in  her  co.sy  sitting-room  reading  the  newspaper  perhaps,  but 
nearly  all  the   time  with  her  large  print  Bible  in  her  hands  and  reading 


328 


THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 


[1890. 


it,  or  looking  up  with  a  smile  to  greet  any  one  who  may  come  in,  and 
ready  to  engage  in  conversation. 

This  volume  is  published  on  the  one  hundred  and  first  anniversary  of 
my  father's  birthday,  May  4,  1890. 

There  are  of  his  descendants,  living  at  the  present  time,  children, 
grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren,  one  hundred. 

These  are  as  follows  :  Nine  children,  fifty-one  grandchildren,  and  forty 
great-grandchildren. 


II.  FAMILY   LETTERS. 

1774-1889. 


I.   OLD  I.ETTERS. 


IN  the  course  of  years  my  father,  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  filled  three 
manuscript  volumes  with  copies  of  old  letters,  amounting  in  all 
to  850  foolscap  pages.  Many  of  these  are  of  very  great  interest, 
and  throw  not  a  little  light  upon  the  early  history  of  the  family,  some 
being  from  relatives  in  Ireland,  and  some  from  Irish  relatives  who  had 
come  to  America  at  an  early  age,  while  many  of  these  letters  are  the 
correspondence  between  the  five  brothers,  sons  of  John  Sherrard. 

It  will  add  interest  to  this  Family  History  to  give  a  few  of  these  old 
letters  as  specimens  of  a  past  age  of  correspondence,  and  one  cannot 
help  being  impressed  with  the  literary  ability  of  these  people  of  former 
generations  to  express  themselves  in  such  excellent,  and  often  elegant 
style.  Above  all,  we  learn  through  these  old  letters  how  devoted  the 
piety  and  how  strong  is  the  Christian  character  of  these  ancestors  and 
connections  of  ours.  Already  we  have  seen  this  spirit  breathed  forth 
in  the  letters  of  uncle  David  and  uncle  Thomas,  written  at  the  time 
of  uncle  William's  death,  in  1820,  as  recorded  in  the  main  body  of  this 
history. 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  there  are  no  letters  remaining  written 
by  our  grandfather  and  grandmother,  John  and  Mary  Sherrard,  for 
they  were  accustomed  to  write,  nor  is  there  any  letter  to  be  found  of 
Alexander  Cathcart  to  his  wife  whom  he  had  left  in  Ireland.  However, 
there  is  one  letter  on  record  from  our  great-grandmother,  Ann  Gamble 
Cathcart,  to  her  husband,  Alexander  Cathcart,  during  their  separation, 
while  he  was  on  a  visit  to  this  country,  and  to  this  the  first  place  is 
given.     There  are  few   experiences   in   life    more  affecting  than  this,  to 

329 


330  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

reflect  that  this  loving  couple  never  saw  each  other  again,  separated  as 
they  were  by  the  wide  ocean,  and  the  bitter  struggles  of  war  meanwhile 
springing  up  between  the  two  countries,  preventing  the  coming  of  the 
wife  to  America  as  she  so  fully  intended,  or  the  return  home  of  the  hus- 
band and  daughter  Mary.  For  seven  years  their  hopes  of  reunion  must 
have  been  cherished,  only  to  be  completely  crushed  in  his  death  in 
1780,  and  for  thirty-three  years  longer  this  dear  old  lady  remained  a 
widow  in  her  native  land  until  her  death,  in  18 13,  never  again  in  this 
life  permitted  to  behold  the  face  of  her  beloved  daughter  Mary.  This 
letter  was  found  by  uncle  David  among  some  old  papers  in  1838, 
and  he  says  in  a  letter  to  father  that  he  does  not  remember  ever 
seeing  it  before. 

ANN    GAMBLE    CATHCART   TO   ALEXANDER   CATHCART. 

"  Ballygonnell,  County  Fermanagh,  Ireland, 
"  September  the  4th,  1774. 
"  Dear  Husband  : 

"  This  is  to  let  you  know  that  I  received  your  letter  and  one 
from  our  son  David,  which  is  a  great  comfort  to  me  to  hear  that  you 
and  our  daughter  Mary  are  safe  arrived  with  him  and  in  good  health.  I 
and  the  rest  of  the  family  are  in  good  health  at  present.  I  thank  God 
for  it.  I  thought  to  be  with  you  before  now  ;  but  I  have  not  all  things 
in  readiness  yet,  and  was  persuaded  by  my  brother  to  stay  to  May  next, 
as  we  were  informed  that  there  was  great  trouble  talked  of  being  in  that 
place. 

"  I  have  the  two  boys  at  school,  and  they  are  with  their  uncle  in 
Graan.  I  got  all  safe  out  of  Maughrygannon,  and  left  it  November 
last.  They  took  possession,  and  gave  it  to  a  man  from  County  Wex- 
ford, who  is  living  there  now.  I  request  that  you  will  let  me  know,  by 
the  first  opportunity,  how  you  are  settled  in  that  place,  and  if  there  be 
any  appearance  of  trouble  there,  as  I  have  heard  there  was  between  the 
inhabitants  of  that  country  and  England.  I  have  bought  twenty  stone 
of  feathers,  and  some  coarse  cloth,  and  several  articles  such  as  you 
wrote  to  me  about.  There  is  some  cloth  and  feathers  bought  for  David. 
My  mother  desireth  to  be  remembered  to  you.  Your  children  all  desire 
to  remember  their  love  and  duty  to  you  ;  also  your  brothers  and  sisters 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  331 

and  friends  desire  to  be  remembered  to  you.  Give  my  love  to  David 
and  Susannah,  also  to  daughter  Mary  and  to  my  brother  Andrew  Gam- 
ble and  his  family,  and  let  him  know  that  his  son  David  is  in  good 
health.  I  intend  to  set  off  for  America  about  May  next,  with  the  help 
of  God. 

"  Fail  not  in  letting  me  know  by  the  first  opportunity  how  all  things 
are  with  you  there.     No  more  at  present,  but  remain, 

"  Your  loving  wife  till  death,  Ann  Cathcart. 

"  To  Alexander  Cathcart." 

Father  adds  this  foot-note :  "  Twenty  stone  of  feathers  would  be,  at 
14  pounds  to  the  stone,  280  pounds  of  feathers, — enough  of  feathers  to 
make  one  dozen  good  feather-beds.  Grandmother  was  a  mind  to  have 
good  beds  if  she  had  got  to  America." 

The  ne.xt  oldest  letter  on  record  is  one  from  George  Gamble  to  his 
uncle^  Andrew  Gamble,  who  was  then  living  at  Thunder  Hill,  New  Lon- 
don Cross  Roads,  Chester  County,  Pa. 

This  Andrew  Gamble  was  the  youngest  brother  of  Ann  Gamble  Cath- 
cart, and  he  was  the  youngest  of  six  children  of  David  Gamble,  of 
Graan,  three  miles  from  Enniskillen,  County  Fermanagh,  Ireland.  The 
names  of  these  six  children  were  as  follows  in  the  order  of  their  ages, 
as  near  as  I  have  been  able  to  make  out :  Baptist,  Ann,  David,  Mrs. 
Hughes  (whose  name  was  probably  Magdalen),  William  and  Andrew. 

GEORGE  GAMBLE  TO  ANDREW  GAMBLE. 

"  Graan,  Ireland, 
"  September  the  7th,  1785. 
"  Dear  Uncle: 

"  Your  friends  in  this  country  think  it  very  strange  that  you  have 
not  these  ten  or  twelve  years  acquainted  them  or  any  of  them  how  your 
health  or  affairs  do. 

"  I  think  it  necessary,  however,  to  give  you  an  account  of  the  state  of 
your  friends  in  this  country.  We  are  at  present  all  well  in  health,  and 
as  happy  as  we  can  wish  for  in  every  respect.  My  uncle,  William  Gam- 
ble, has  got  his  daughter  Mary  married  to  a  Mr.  Brien,  within  four  miles 


332  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

of  Duress ;  his  son  William  is  also  married  to  a  Miss  Frith,  of  Derry- 
argan.  Moses  Gamble's  daughter  is  joined  to  Mr.  Alexander,  of  Corna- 
grey.  William  Hall's  eldest  son  and  daughter  are  married,  and  they 
are  all  happy  and  well. 

"  My  uncle,  William  Gamble,  has  not  got  any  letter  from  his  son 
John  these  eighteen  months ;  he  was  at  that  time  in  Nova  Scotia,  and 
was  in  very  good  business  there. 

"  I  understand  he  is  now  married  there,  and  has  a  plantation,  besides 
other  profits  very  great.  William  Gamble  has  got  a  legacy  this  year, 
which  doubles  his  estate,  by  Miss  Cox,  who  lived  in  Dublin.  We  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  David  Cathcart  May  last,  which  told  us  at  that  time 
our  friends  were  all  well.  We  also  had  a  letter  from  David,  your  son, 
February  last,  but  none  since. 

"  He  gave  us  to  understand  that  he  was  in  very  good  business,  and  he 
expected  preferment  in  the  spring  of  the  year.  I  will  close  here,  giving 
you  in  charge  those  letters  which  I  hope  you  will  take  every  means  that 
may  conduct  them  safe,  lest  there  should  be  any  miscarriage  of.  these 
letters  after  you  receive  them.  I  hope  you  will  let  them  know  that  their 
friends  are  all  well,  and  hoping  to  be  remembered  by  them  oftener. 
Dear  uncle,  it  is  the  request  of  all  your  friends  to  be  remembered  to  you, 
and  they  hope  that  you  may  write  as  often  as  opportunity  serves,  as  it 
would  be  their  greatest  happiness  to  hear  of  your  welfare.  So  trust 
"  Your  affectionate  nephew,  George  Gamble. 

"  To  Andrew  Gamble." 

There  is  also  a  letter  on  record  from  Thomas  Elliott  and  wife,  of  Bal- 
lygonnell,  Ireland,  to  David  Cathcart,  dated  June  !!,•  1789,  and  in  a 
foot-note  father  says :  "  The  above-named  Thomas  Elliott  was  married 
to  my  mother's  oldest  sister,  Magdalen  Cathcart,  and  he  was  by  trade  a 
cabinet-maker,  carpenter  and  joiner.  My  mother  left  behind  her  a  small 
chest  of  his  make,  in  which  she  brought  from  Ireland  to  this  country, 
in  company  with  her  father,  the  fall  season  of  1773,  some  of  her  finer 
clothes;  which  said  chest  is  still  in  possession  of  my  brother  John.  It 
was  made  of  what  my  Irish  ancestors  called  deal  boards,  brought  from 
Norway." 

In  this  letter  they  say  :  "  Your  mother  is  in  good  health  at  present, 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  333 

and  so  is  Stephen  Johnson  and  his  family.  George  McDonald  and  his 
family  are  all  well  at  present,  and  so  are  your  uncles  and  their  families." 

Stephen  Jolinson  was  married  to  Sarah  Cathcart,  and  George  Mc- 
Donald was  the  husband  of  Jane  Cathcart,  daughter  of  Alexander  Cath- 
cart and  Ann  Gamble. 

There  is  another  old  letter  on  record  from  Jane  McDonald  to  her 
brother,  David  Cathcart,  dated  Cleens,  Ir'd,  June  3d,  1794,  in  which  she 
gives  the  names  of  her  six  children,  and  among  other  things  says :  "  Let 
me  know  concerning  your  sister  Mary  and  her  family,  and  whether  they 
are  well  or  not,  or  if  she  is  living  near  you,  or  in  what  part  of  the  coun- 
try she  is  living." 

WILLI.\M    GAMBLE   TO    D.WID    CATHCART. 

"  Philadelphia,  April  8th,  1802. 
"  Mr.  David  Cathcart. 

"Sir:  Your  favor  of  26th  February,  1800,  came   safe  to  hand. 
Since  that  I  received  none  of  your  favors. 

"  I  wrote  you  last  summer  by  Major  Death  who  informed  me  that  he 
lived  about  ten  or  twelve  miles  distant  from  you,  and  would  take  particu- 
lar care  to  have  that  letter  sent  carefully  to  you.  I  have  now  to  inform 
you  that  I  intend  to  depart  for  Ireland  very  shortly,  which  will  take 
place  in  the  course  of  four  or  five  weeks  at  farthest.  I  have  the  pleasure 
to  inform  you  that  the  letters  I  received  last  summer  from  Ireland  in- 
formed me  of  all  our  friends  being  living  and  well  in  that  country. 

"  Your  mother  continues  to  keep  in  good  health.  Your  sister  Jane's 
eldest  son,  Samuel  McDonald,  is  determined  to  come  to  this  country 
this  summer,  and  no  doubt  but  many  of  the  younger  sons  will  follow.  I 
understand  that  their  father  encourages  them  very  much,  and  says  he 
will  in  some  time  follow  them  himself  In  my  opinion,  if  he  leaves  that 
comfortable  habitation  where  he  now  dwells,  he  will  never  live  in  so 
comfortable  or  independent  a  situation  as  he  does  now  in  the  Cleens.  I 
heard  last  week  from  the  family  of  Thunder  Hill  that  they  were  all  well 
as  that  time,  though  my  uncle  is  wearing  very  fast. 

"  Last  winter  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  receiving  two  letters  from  your 
brother  Andrew.  The  first  of  these  letters  was  accompanied  with  one 
from  him  for  you,  which  I  forwarded  by  the  first  post  which  left  this  city 


334  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

for  the  westward,  and  hope  it  has  been   received  by  you.     I  would  wish 

you  to  write  to  ine  shortly,  as   my  stay  in  this  country  is   not  long;  it 

will  require  to  do  it  on  receipt   of  this  letter,  and  if  you  have  any  com- 

inands  to  Ireland,  inform  me  thereof     I  would  thank  you  if  you  would 

inform  me  where  James  Irvine  and  his  sisters  now  live.     I  am  sorry  to 

hear  that  your  brother-in-law   has  got  the   palsy,  but   hope  he  has  got 

better  before  this  time.     Pray  give   my  best  respects  and  well  wishes  to 

your  wife  and  sister  Mary  and  other  friends,  and  believe  me  to  be,  dear 

sir,  Your  Ob't  Servant, 

"  W.  Gamble. 
"To  David  Cathcart." 

This  William  Gamble  who  wrote  the  above  letter  was  the  second  son  of 
David  Gamble,  and  a  nephew  of  Ann  Gamble  Cathcart.  He  came  over 
to  America  in  September,  1797,  and  spent  the  first  winter  with  his  uncle 
Andrew  out  in  Chester  County,  Pa ,  at  Thunder  Hill.  He  then  went  to 
Philadelphia  and  was  employed  as  book-keeper  for  Mr.  Hare,  who  was 
Speaker  of  the  Senate.  He  remained  there  four  years  except  that  for 
three  months  during  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  he  was  out  at  his 
uncle's  in  Chester  County.  In  May,  1802,  he  returned  to  Ireland  and  en- 
gaged in  the  queensware  business  in  Belfast  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
was  married  to  a  Miss  Jane  Douglass. 

He  afterwards  went  to  Dublin  and  went  into  the  chemical  business 
with  his  brother  Josias. 

JOHN   GAMBLE  TO   DAVID   CATHCART. 

"  Thunder  Hill,  Chester  County,  Pa. 
"September  15,  1806. 

"  Dear  David  : 

"  It  is  with  peculiar  satisfaction  that  I  now  sit  down  to  write -to 
you.  But  sorry  I  am  to  inform  you  that  my  father  has  been  lying  bed- 
fast these  fifteen  months  with  the  most  excruciating  pains.  He  is  not  in 
the  smallest  degree  able  to  make  himself  any  assistance,  but  as  I  lift  him 
in  and  out  of  bed  and  turn  him,  and  he  is  like  to  continue  so  for  years. 
I  can  just  inform  you  that  David  McDonald,  son  to  your  sister  Jane, 
with  his  wife  and  child,  have  come  to  this  country,  and  are  living  in 
Lancaster,  but  farther  I  cannot  tell. 


FA  M/L  3  •  LE  TTERS.  335 

"  Your  mother  is  living  with  your  brother-in-law,  Thomas  Elhott. 
Give  my  compliments  to  John  Reed,  and  to  cousin  Susan  in  particular 
manner,  and  believe  me  to  be 

"  Your  cousin  in  sincerity, 

"John  Gamble. 

"To  Mr.  David  Cathcart." 


JOHN   GAMBLE   TO   DAVID    CATHCART. 

"  Thunder  Hill,  Chester  County,  Pa. 
"  February  17,  1812. 
"  My  Dear  David  and  Susan  : 

"  This  comes  with  my  best  respects  to  you  and  your  nephew, 
hoping  you  are  all  in  good  health  as  I  am  at  present.  But  it  is  with  pain 
and  pleasure  I  inform  you  that  my  father,  your  uncle,  is  dead. 

"  He  died  the  9th  of  this  month  about  1 1  o'clock,  A.  M. — pain,  be- 
cause you  know  it  is  hard  to  part  with  an  earthly  parent  who  was  the 
guardian  of  my  youth,  and  provided  for  me — pleasure,  because  he  is  re- 
moved from  a  land  of  sorrow  and  trouble  to  that  of  (I  hope)  peace. 

"If  any  man  ever  suffered  for  sin  in  this  life  he  did;  seven  years 
he  kept  his  bed,  and  never  was  he  out  but  when  I  lifted  him,  twice  every 
day,  in  that  time,  but  frequently  ten  times  in  twenty-four  hours.  This 
may  seem  like  a  fable  to  you,  but  it  is  strictly  true,  and  oftener  if  I 
might  say  it.  The  first  three  and  a  half  years  I  never  got  one  night  in 
bed,  and  frequently  have  I  been  three  days  and  three  nights  without  any 
sleep  whatever.  My  health  is  m.uch  impaired  and  my  constitution  much 
broken.  I  have  advertised  my  land  for  sale,  and  if  I  sell  it  soon  you 
will  see  me  with  you  this  fall,  if  well,  as  it  is  my  determination  to  leave 
this  neighborhood  if  possible.  It  would  give  me  a  great  deal  of  happi- 
ness could  I  but  see  you  before  you  are  removed. 

"  I  am  here  very  lonely,  and  I  think  if  I  could  be  settled  near  you  or 
James  Hughes  my  mind  would  be  more  at  ease.  I  am  not  yet  married, 
and  not  determined  whether  I  ever  will  be  or  not.  My  sisters  and  family 
are  all  well.  James  Hughes  is  well,  as  also  W.  Gamble.  He  now  lives 
in  Belfast,  but  thinks  if  the  difference  between  this  country  and  England 
was  settled  he  would  come  to  this  country.     I  have  not  heard  from  your 


336  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

nephew  for  three  years  or  more.     Fail   not  to  write  to  me  on   receipt  of 

this  letter.     I  conclude  with  my  love  to  you  and  all  friends,  and  am, 

"  Your  most  sincere  cousin, 

"John  Gamble. 
"  To  Mr.  David  Cathcart." 


JOHN   GAMBLE   TO    D.WID   CATHCART. 

"  Thuxder  Hill,  New  London,  Chester  Co.,  Pa. 
"  March  i,  1813. 

"  Dear  David  : 

"  A  considerable  time  has  elapsed  since  I  have  had  any  letter 
from  you — I  believe  not  since  the  death  of  my  father,  at  which  time  I 
wrote  you  but  received  no  answer.  I  have  not  yet  sold  my  land,  nor 
have  I  any  prospect  at  present  of  selling  it.  I  wish  very  much  to  sell  if 
I  could,  as  I  wish  to  move  from  here  to  your  country. 

"  The  land  in  this  place  has  got  very  poor,  and  there  is  not  any  way 
of  enriching  it  but  by  lime,  which  makes  it  come  very  dear,  and  there 
are  but  few  men  able  to  improve  it  in  that  way  here.  My  health  is  very 
much  injured  and  broken  by  attending  on  my  father  when  in  his  long 
suffering,  and  I  am  very  fearful  it  will  never  be  better  now,  but  this  I 
must  put  up  with. 

"  Our  cousin  Hughes  in  Philadelphia  is  well  and  is  making  out  well. 
He  is  a  very  industrious,  sober,  steady  man,  but  looks  old  like.  He  has 
had  some  severe  trouble  in  his  time.  It  is  more  than  a  year  since  I  had 
a  letter  from  your  brother,  Andrew  Cathcart.  I  presume  you  have 
heard  from  him  since  that.  John  Whitcraft  has  moved  on  his  own  place, 
and  has  built  a  new  stone  house  and  an  excellent  frame  barn.  His  eldest 
son,  James,  has  got  married  a  few  days  previous  to  this  to  a  Miss  Pink- 
erton. 

"  He  is  a  carpenter  to  trade,  and  his  third  brother  is  learning  the  trade 
with  him.  I  am  not  yet  married,  nor  do  I  know  when  I  will ;  I  wish  to 
move  from  here  before  I  change  my  way  of  living.  Give  my  most 
grateful  compliments  to  cousin  Susan,  and  D.  A.  C.  Sherrard.  If  it  was 
so  ordered  I  wish  very  much  to  see  you  before  you  quit  this  stage  of 
action,  or  could  I  leave  home  I  certainly  would  go  to  see  you.  Write 
me  on  receipt  of  this,  and  let  me  know  how  you  are,,  and  also  if  you 


FA  MIL  Y  LETTERS.  337 

know  anything  of  my  sisters  Peggy  Graliam  and  Mary  Conn,  or  any  of 
their  children.  Wheat  has  been  sold  at  $2.20  per  bushel  here,  but  a 
trifling  part  of  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  sell. 

"  John  Gamble. 

"To  David  Cathcart." 

This  John  Gamble  was  the  son  of  Andrew  Gamble,  who  was  the 
youngest  brother  of  our  great-grandmother  Ann  Gamble  Cathcart,  and 
John  was  consequently  a  full  cousin  to  David  Cathcart.  His  father, 
Andrew,  came  to  America  in  1765,  and  settled  in  Chester  County,  Pa., 
in  the  southern  part,  about  fifty  miles  west-southwest  of  Philadelphia. 

In  addition  to  his  farming  interests  there  at  Thunder  Hill,  two  miles 
from  New  London,  he  made  seven  successful  trading  trips  between  this 
country  and  Ireland.  He  was  a  paralytic  sufferer  for  several  years  be- 
fore his  death,  and  the  farm  was  left  to  his  son  John.  It  was  here  that 
Alexander  Cathcart  and  his  daughter  Mary  came  when  they  landed  from 
Ireland,  in  1773,  and  he  found  his  son,  David  Cathcart,  already  living  in 
the  neighborhood,  as  he  and  his  wife,  Susannah,  had  come  out  from  Ire- 
land the  year  before,  and  settled  across  the  Elk  Creek,  probably  not  more 
than  a  mile  away.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  John  Gamble  never  succeeded 
in  selling  that  farm,  but  continued  to  live  on  there  till  his  death,  which 
occurred  about  1830.  He  did  finally  get  njarried  to  a  widow,  who 
proved  to  be  unworthy  of  him,  and  they  separated,  and  he  paid  her 
$3000.  They  had  one  child  but  it  died.  After  his  death  the  farm  was 
sold,  and  the  proceeds  divided  among  his  sisters,  so  far  as  I  could  learn. 
I  visited  this  old  place  at  Thunder  Hill,  in  May,  1889,  and  learned  many 
of  these  facts  from  old  neighbors  of  the  Gambles,  who  had  known  John 
and  his  father  well,  and  they  testified  that  they  were  excellent  people, 
and  highly  esteemed. 

I  saw  the  old  stone  barn  still  standing,  which  John  Gamble  had  built 
in  1822,  and  also  the  chimney  of  the  old  log-house  which  Andrew  Gam- 
ble had  originally  built,  and  the  old  crane  was  still  hanging  in  the  fire- 
place. 

John  Gamble  had  a  cousin,  James  Hughes,  living  in  Philadelphia,  and 
teaching  school  there.  He  had  come  at  an  early  day  from  Ireland,  and 
was  always  on  intimate  terms  out  at  his  uncle  Andrew's  house  in  Ches- 
ter County. 


338  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

I  have  been  able  to  learn  nothing  from  the  old  letters  about  the  father 
of  this  James  Hughes,  but  his  mother  was  the  fourth  child  of  old  David 
Gamble,  and  therefore  a  full  sister  of  Ann  and  Andrew  and  the  rest  of 
them.  She  left  several  children  whose  names  are  mentioned  here  and 
there,  and  she  herself  died  of  paralysis.  It  is  my  impression  that  her 
name  was  Magdalen. 

I  next  give  two  letters  from  this  James  Hughes. 

JAMES    HUGHES    TO  DAVID   CATHCART. 

"  Philadelphia,  June  25,  1810. 
"  Respected  Friend  : 

"  Probably  you  may  think  it  singular  to  be  written  to  by  a  person 
of  whom  you  have  no  personal  acquaintance,  or  do  not  recollect  having 
seen.  To  avoid  further  ceremony,  the  cause  of  my  addressing  you  is  to 
give  you  some  information  respecting  your  relatives  in  Ireland.  Uncle 
David  Gamble's  son  James,  by  his  second  wife,  arrived  in  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  on  the  first  of  the  present  year.  He  is  acquainted  with 
business,  having  lived  with  his  brother  William  in  Belfast,  and  got  a 
situation  immediately,  but  is  gone  out  to  the  western  part  of  the  State 
during  the  warm  season  with  a  Mr.  Keys,  from  near  Enniskillen.  Last 
fall,  on  his  departure  from  home,  your  mother  enjoyed  perfect  health, 
free  from  rheumatic  complaints,  but  thin  of  flesh.  Your  sisters  and 
families  were  well. 

"  Uncle  William  is  living,  in  tolerable  health.  Baptist  and  mother 
both  died  of  paralytic  complaint,  similar  to  that  under  which  uncle 
Andrew  has  been  afflicted  so  long  in  this  country.  Samuel  Gamble,  of 
Graan,  is  married  to  Moses'  daughter  Mary.  William,  who  resided  in 
this  city  some  years  back,  now  lives  in  Belfast ;  is  largely  in  the  queens- 
ware,  china,  glass,  etc.,  and  is  married  to  a  former  Miss  Jane  Douglass, 
whose  father  is  a  merchant  there  and  of  a  respectable  family.  William 
and  I  correspond  by  letter,  and  I  heard  from  him  a  few  days  ago. 

"  The  oppression  under  which  the  Irish  labor  has  seldom  been  equaled 
by  any  other  people.  Latterly  they  have  suffered  much  by  the  want  of 
good  flaxseed.  It  sold  in  Belfast  on  the  4th  of  May  last  at  ;^8  per 
hundred. 

"  When  it  would  be  conveyed  into  the  interior  and  retailed  out  you 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  339 

know  it  must  be  much  higher,  but  the  despots  of  Europe  have  no  com- 
passion for  the  poor.  I  regret  to  inform  you  that  uncle  Andrew 
remains  in  the  same  condition  as  formerly,  helpless,  and  John  suffers 
greatly  attending  him.  How  thankful  ought  we  to  be  for  health  and 
the  innumerable  mercies  conferred  on  us  daily  by  the  Supreme  Gov- 
ernor of  the  universe,  yet  examine  our  conduct  and  behold  what 
ingratitude  and  complaining  and  discontent,  even  when  we  enjoy  all  the 
necessaries  of  life,  and  many  of  the  superfluities.  How  thankful  we 
ought  to  be  in  this  land  of  gospel  liberty.  May  you  and  I  be  enabled 
to  work  out  our  salvation  through  the  merits  of  Christ.  When  we  look 
forward,  our  departure  from  this  stage  of  existence  must  not  be  far 
distant.  Heretofore  I  presume  j'ou  have  been  informed  by  John  Gamble 
that  I  teach  school.  I  have  met  with  good  encouragement,  but  begin 
to  feel  the  approach  of  age. 

"  John  Henderson,  son  to  my  sister  Jane  Thompson,  lives  in  this  city. 
He  has  another  brother  in  Virginia.  My  sister  Margaret  and  younger 
brother  Francis  remain  in  Ireland.  He  has  a  small  farm  of  land  very 
cheap,  and  they  live  comfortably.  Sister  Jane  is  dead.  Sister  Magdalen 
and  family  are  well,  also  John  Thompson  and  family.  Our  worthy 
friend  Baptist  Irvine  of  Baltimore  is  well.  I  must  claim  your  indulgence 
in  my  tedious  and  perhaps  to  you  uninteresting  letter,  and  request  you 
will  write  me  a  few  lines  shortly,  and  address  me  No.  3  Wathens  Alley. 
Being  acquainted  with  Mr.  Trevor  I  send  this  to  his  care.  Please 
present  my  best  respects  to  Mrs.  Cathcart,  and  I  am,  dear  sir, 
"  Your  friend,  &c., 

"  J.\MES  Hughes. 

"  To  David  Cathcart." 

J.\MES   HUGHES   TO   DAVID   C.\THC.\RT. 

Philadelphia,  June  29,  1814. 
"Dear  Cousin, 

"  Yesterday  I  received  a  letter  from  William  Gamble  written  last 
Christmas  Day.  I  must  now  inform  you  of  an  event  you  must  long 
have  expected.  Your  mother  died  on  that  day  five  weeks  preceding 
Christmas  Day. 

"  She  was  confined  only  three  days  and   departed  this  life  quite  easy 
after  a  long  life.     All  the  relations  are  well.     Thank   God  mv  health   at 


340  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

present  is  good,  and  I  expect  to  teach  during  the  summer  and  not  go  to 

the  country.     I  wrote  by  Mr.  Alex.  Johnson  the  last  time  he  was  in  the 

city.     John  Gamble  and  John  Henderson  are  well,  with  all  their  friends. 

The  times  in  Ireland  were  very  brisk   in  all   kinds  of  business.     Linen 

had  raised  twenty  per  cent,  with  every  kind  of  British  goods.     Potatoes 

3^/.  a  stone. 

"  Beef  and  pork  cheap.     Fine  times   for  the  poor.     He   says  he  will 

go  to  live  in  Dublin  soon.     Write  to  me  before  long.     Please  give  my 

love  to  Mrs.  Cathcart  and  all  the  friends,  and  believe  me  to  be 

"  With  sentiments  of  respect  and  esteem, 

"  James  Hughes. 
"  To  David  Cathcart." 

This  James  Hughes  was  still  living  as  late  as  1825,  for  in  a  letter 
from  John  Gamble  to  his  si.ster,  Mrs.  Margaret  Graham,  dated  Decem- 
ber 5,  1825,  he  says:  "Mr.  James  Hughes  is  now  in  Ireland,  but 
expects  to  be  back  in  Philadelphia  this  spring.  He  will  make  $2,000  by 
this  trip ;  this  is  the  way  to  make  money." 

ANDREW  CATHCART  TO  MARY  SHERRARD. 

"  Township  Butternuts,  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y., 
"  October  4,  18 10. 

"  Dear  Sister, 

"  I  take  this  opportunity  of  informing  you  that  we  are  in  a  state 
of  good  health,  hoping  to  find  you  and  the  boys  well  when  this  arrives 
by  the  bearer,  friend  William  Ferguson,  who  informs  me  that  the  boys 
are  doing  well  and  very  industrious,  which  is  a  very  great  trait  in  their 
character.  And  what  adds  more  to  it,  friend  William  informs  me  that 
they  are  very  good  to  their  mother,  who  brought  them  from  a  state  of 
childhood  to  what  they  are  at  present.  But  by  so  doing  they  are  only 
fulfilling  a  duty  they  owe  to  a  kind  parent,  an  injunction  laid  on  us  by 
our  maker,  hoping  they  and  all  of  us  may  strictly  observe  them  with 
others  enjoined  on  us  to  perform. 

"  Ann,  my  wife,  and  little  John  send  their  love  to  you  all.  I  refer  to 
cousin  William  for  further  intelligence,  remaining, 

"  Your  brother  and  the  boys'  uncle, 

"  Andrew  Cathcart. 

"  To  Mary  Sherrard  and  Boys." 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  341 

ANDREW  CATHCART  TO   DAVID  CATHCART. 

•'  Butternuts,  August  12,  1812. 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"I  received  yours  of  the  17th  of  June,  which  informed  me  of 
sister's  illness,  and  was  very  sorry  for  her  affliction,  but  thankful  to 
God  for  her  recovery,  trusting  in  him  to  continue  his  goodness  and 
sparing  mercy  which  we  have  long  enjoyed,  and  prepare  us  for  that 
unchangeable  state  that  awaits  us,  as  it  is  fast  approaching,  if  lengthened 
to  the  common  age  of  man. 

"  But  we  know  not  the  moment ;  therefore  I  pray  to  God,  who  created 
the  universe,  and  has  been  a  Father  and  Brother  to  us  in  this  strange 
land,  and  has  bestowed  blessings  on  us,  all  that  this  world  can  afford, 
to  make  us  mindful  of  our  latter  end,  and  give  us  peace  in  our  day  with 
the  full  assurance  of  a  happy  immortality  beyond  the  grave. 

"  I  am  happy  to  hear  that  sister  and  her  children  are  well,  and  that 
the  boys  are  well,  and  so  promising,  hoping  that  God  will  bless  them 
and  prosper  them  in  their  undertakings,  and  give  them  a  heart  to  fear 
him  and  be  thankful.  I  had  a  letter  from  John  Gamble,  Thunder  Hill, 
informing  me  of  his  father's  death,  and  also  that  he  had  a  letter  from 
William  Gamble,  Belfast,  who  informed  him  that  mother  and  uncle 
William  Gamble  were  well,  but  no  other  account  of  sister  or  friends. 
Respecting  our  situation  in  these  troublous  times  of  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  we  are  in  an  interior  part  of  the  country 
where  there  is  very  little  fear  from  the  frontiers  or  seaboard,  nevertheless 
it  seems  to  be  a  very  unpopular  war;  notwithstanding,  we  must  receive 
it  as  a  rod  of  correction  from  our  Maker.  Being  blessed  with  the  good 
things  of  this  life  we  waxed  fat,  and  forgot  the  Giver  and  that  thing 
which  is  most  needful.  And  it  is  said,  '  whom  he  loveth  he  chasteneth,' 
and  may  God  grant  it  to  be  the  case  to  bring  us  to  a  true  sense  of  our 
duty,  to  know  that  he  is  the  Disposer  of  all  things,  and  that  there  is 
none  other  to  fly  to  for  refuge  and  a  happy  eternity.  I  should  be 
pleased  to  hear  from  you  every  opportunity,  and  as  God  has  endowed 
us  with  faculties  and  the  means,  we  ought  to  make  use  of  them  to  com- 
municate a  friendly  intercourse  with  each  other,  as  there  is  nothing  this 
side  of  the  grave  more  gratifying  than  friends  and  friendly  intercourse. 


342  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

I  am  happy  cousin  William  Ferguson  got  home  safe,  as  it  gave  us  some 
uneasiness,  it  being  a  great  undertaking  for  a  man  advanced  to  his 
years  all  alone  and  the  route  he  took,  by  the  Lakes. 

"Joined  with   Nancy's  and  John's  love  to  you  and  sister,  and  sister 
Mary  and  children,  William  Ferguson  and  family,  concluding, 
"  Your  affectionate  brother  and  sister, 

"  Andrew  and  Anne  Cathcart. 

"  P.  S.     John   sends   his  love  to   you  and   his  aunt,  and  promises  to 

comply  with  your  request,  to  know  his  Creator  in  the  days  of  his  youth, 

and  if  blessed  to  prolong  him  to  old  age,  not  to  depart  from  it. 

"  Remaining  your  affectionate  nephew, 

"  John  A.  Cathcart. 
"  To  David  Cathcart." 

Father  adds  a  note  that  the  postage  on  the  above  letter  was  twenty- 
five  cents. 

ANDREW  CATHCART  TO  DAVID  CATHCART. 

"  Township  of  Butternuts,  Otsego  Co.,  New  York, 
"Nov.  22,  1822. 
"  Dear  Brother  and  Sister, 

"  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  whether  I  am  addressing  the  living  or 
the  dead,  as  I  have  not  received  any  intelligence  from  you  for  some 
time.  I  wrote  to  you  twice,  but  no  answer  as  yet.  We  all  enjoy  good 
health,  but  by  the  course  of  nature  we  are  approaching  to  our  long 
home,  hoping  that  God  will  not  forsake,  but  prepare  through  time,  and 
fit  us  for  eternity,  which  ought  to  be  impressed  on  our  thoughts,  and 
we  ought  to  pray  for  his  heavenly  grace  so  that  we  may  be  partakers 
of  his  heavenly  bliss  in  his  kingdom  which  is  not  made  with  hands. 
Oh,  my  dear  brother,  I  hope  and  pray  that  we  may  live  and  die  in  the 
favor,  and  good  will  of  our  heavenly  Father,  and  be  received  into  his 
fold  at  the  last  day.  As  I  am  sensible  that  he  has  been  my  guide  and 
protector  through  every  period  of  my  life,  and  in  an  especial  manner 
ever  since  I  left  my  native  land,  then  how  ungrateful  must  I  be,  and 
indeed  all  of  us,  if  we  do  not  keep  in  remembrance  of  our  God,  and 
our    Guide    who    has    bestowed    so    many    blessings    upon    us,    as    his 


FA  MIL  V  LETTERS.  343 

promise  is  sure  that  he   will  never   leave  us  nor   forsake  us,  if  we  merit 
his  grace. 

"  I  should  be  pleased  to  hear  from  sister  Mary  Sherrard  and  family. 
The  last  sorrowful  news  was  the  loss  of  her  dear  son,  but  God  is  wise 
in  all  his  actions,  hoping  it  is  all  for  the  best,  and  we  ought  to  resign 
it  freely  and  realize  it  is  for  our  good ;  as  God  gives,  he  has  a  right  to 
take  away  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

"  My  son  John  is  out  to  the  westward  about  i6o  miles  at  Rochester 
in  Monroe  County  in  the  mercantile  business  and  is  doing  well.  He  is 
married  to  my  eldest  stepdaughter.  All  the  boys  are  in  business,  and 
only  three  girls  at  home.  The  youngest,  Elizabeth  Ann  Cathcart,  is  in 
her  eighth  year  and  promises  well ;  she  is  fond  of  her  book  and  a  good 
scholar  for  her  age ;  often  says  she  would  wish  to  see  her  uncle,  and 
take  a  journey  to  Western  Pennsylvania.  She  sends  her  love,  and  all 
join  in  the  same,  and  may  God  in  his  infinite  mercy  govern  and  pro- 
tect us  all,  is  the  sincere  wish  of 

"  Your  affectionate  brother,  "  Andrew  Cathcart. 

'•  To  David  Cathcart." 

Andrew  Cathcart  above  mentioned  was  the  youngest  child  of  Ale.x- 
ander  Cathcart  and  Ann  Gamble,  and  was  born  in  1755.  He  emigrated 
to  America  in  1786  and  landed  in  New  York;  made  his  way  up  to 
Albany,  and  thence  out  to  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  followed 
surveying,  afterwards  purchased  a  farm  of  200  acres,  but  hired  a  farmer 
and  continued  his  surveying;  married  a  wealthy  girl  by  the  name  of 
Brown,  by  whom  he  had  one  child,  John  Alexander,  born  in  August, 
1798. 

Living  as  he  did  in  those  early  times  away  up  in  western  New 
York,  it  is  perhaps  not  strange  that  Andrew  Cathcart  had  no  commu- 
nication with  his  uncle  Andrew  Gamble  in  Chester  County,  Pa.,  nor 
with  his  brother  David  Cathcart  or  sister  Mary  Sherrard  out  in  Fay- 
ette County,  Pa.,  for  many  years  after  he  came  to  this  country. 

It  would  seem  from  inferences  in  old  letters  that  these  near  rela 
tives  did  not  know  where  Andrew  Cathcart  was  until  1799,  when  a 
certain  James  Adams  who  had  lived  at  Thunder  Hill  and  knew  the 
Gambles  well,  went    up   to    the    North    River  on    a    visit  to    his    own 


344  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

uncle  living  on  the  Mohawk  River,  west  of  Schenectady.  While  there 
he  heard  of  Andrew  Cathcart  living  still  further  west,  and  wrote  to 
him,  and  gave  him  the  news  of  his  relatives  in  Pennsylvania,  and  thus 
communication  was  established,  and  many  letters  afterwards  passed. 
In  a  letter  to  his  brother  David,  dated  August  26,  1803,  Andrew 
Cathcart  gives  an  affecting  account  of  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  which 
occurred  May  30,  1803,  leaving  him  very  lonely  with  his  little  son 
John.  In  this  letter  he  says :  "  I  had  a  letter  from  my  sister  Mary 
Sherrard  some  time  ago,  which  informed  me  she  was  in  expectation 
of  moving,  also  of  the  indisposition  of  her  husband,  John  Sherrard. 
Write  me  if  you  have  any  account  of  my  mother  and  friends  in  Ire- 
land ;  if  uncle  Andrew  Gamble  of  New  London  Cross  Roads,  Thun- 
der Hill,  Chester  County,  Pa.,  is  still  living.  Oh!  had  I  but  my  dear 
old  mother,  if  still  living,  I  would  think  it  a  great  consolation,  and  to 
have  it  in  my  power  to  pay  the  last  duties  to  my  dear  parent  who 
watched  over  my  tender  years,  and  brought  me  to  a  state  of  man- 
hood. But  this  thought  I  give  up,  and  resign  her  to  our  God,  who 
is  a  Father  to  all,  hoping  he  will  prepare  us  for  his  heavenly  inheri- 
tance, is  the  sincere  wish  of  your  loving  brother. 

•'  My  kindest  love  to  sister  Susan,  your  wife,  and  tell  her  I  hope  to 
live  to  see  her,  but  I  believe  I  should  be  put  to  a  stand  to  know  any 
of  you." 

In  July,  1805,  he  came  down  to  Pennsylvania  on  a  visit  to  his  brother 
David,  and  together  they  came  out  to  Ohio  and  visited  their  sister  Mary 
Sherrard  and  her  family,  who  had  just  moved  that  spring  from  Fayette 
County,  Pa. 

Andrew  Cathcart  was  married  a  second  time  May  18,  1807,  to  Miss 
Anne  Moore,  a  wealthy  lady  of  thirty-eight  or  forty  years  of  age,  of 
Albany.  She  died  November  30,  1812,  without  any  children,  but  her 
husband  testifies  that  she  was  a  tender  step-mother  to  his  little  son  John. 
About  1 8 14  he  married  a  third  time,  a  widow,  whose  name  is  not  given, 
with  seven  children,  four  boys  and  three  girls,  and  he  often  wrote  to  his 
brother  David  how  happily  they  lived  together.  He  had  only  one  child 
by  this  third  marriage,  Elizabeth  Ann,  and  she  was  in  her  eighth  year  in 
November,  1822.  As  he  relates  in  one  of  his  letters,  his  son  John  mar- 
ried one  of  his  step-sisters,  and  was  a  merchant  in  Rochester.     Andrew 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  345 

Cathcart  was  still  living  in  1825,  as  the  following  letter  from  his  brother 
David  shows,  and  it  is  believed  that  he  lived  until  about  1S40. 

DAVID  CATHCART  TO  ANDREW  CATHCART. 

Preceding  the  letter,  my  father,  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  made  the  following 
note:  ''Copy  of  a  letter  written  b)'  Robert  A.  Shenard  at  the  request 
and  desire  of  his  uncle,  David  Cathcart,  to  his  brother,  Andrew  Cathcart. 
Uncle  David,  at  the  date  of  this  letter  was  eighty-three  years  of  age,  and 
not  being  in  the  practice  of  writing,  conceived  the  opinion  that  he  could 
not  write.  I  believe  he  could  have  written,  and  for  a  man  of  his  age 
could  not  for  a  beautiful  hand  be  beaten  by  one  of  ten  thousand,  but  I 
think  his  greatest  loss  would  be  in  arranging  the  matter,  although  his  mmd 
appeared  to  be  sound  and  good  for  more  than  nine  years  afterwards  up 
to  his  death.  He  still  retained  the  use  of  his  eyesight  up  to  the  day  of 
his  death  in  June,  1836."  Father  happened  to  be  on  a  visit  to  Fayette 
County  at  this  time. 

"  Dunbar  Township,  Fayette  County,  Pa. 
"January  26,  1827. 
"  My  Dear  Brother  : 

"  I  embrace  this  opportunity  of  sending  a  few  lines  to  you,  and 
perhaps  this  may  be  the  last  that  you  will  ever  receive  from  me,  though 
my  health  is  as  good  as  I  could  expect  it  to  be  considering  my  uncom- 
mon advanced  age.  I  now  lack  but  a  few  days  of  being  fourscore  and 
three  years  old.  I  was  born  on  the  17th  day  of  March,  1744,  old  style, 
and  I  have  great  reason  to  be  very  thankful  to  God  for  his  preserving 
care  over  me  to  this  advanced  period,  but  also  for  the  use  of  my  faculties 
which  are  but  little  impaired.  I  enjoy  a  good  share  of  health,  and  I 
experience  so  little  pain  or  sickness,  and  I  am  not  left  to  pine  or  languish 
in  the  evening  shade  of  my  life  ;  and  there  is  one  thing  remarkable,  and 
which  but  few  of  my  age  enjoy,  and  that  is  the  use  of  my  eyesight.  I 
have  had  no  need  of  glasses  for  the  last  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  but  can 
read  the  smallest  print  without  them. 

"  Notwithstanding  that  I  am  thus  spared  to  reach  such  an  advanced 
period  of  life,  and  the  enjoyment  of  such  good  health,  it  hath  pleased 
the  great  disposer  of  all  things  to  call  away  my  companion  in  life,  my 
wife  Susannah.   She  had  been  my  partner  in  all  the  joys  and  sorrows,  the 


346  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

ups  and  downs,  the  crosses  and  losses  in  a  marriage  state  for  fifty-six 
years.  She  departed  this  Hfe  on  the  2ist  of  April,  1826,  without  a  strug- 
gle or  a  groan,  after  a  short  illness,  which  she  bore  with  resignation  and 
unshaken  Christian  fortitude.  And  although  my  mind  was  overcome 
with  grief  and  sorrow,  yet  it  has  been  a  lesson  useful  to  me,  which  has 
taught  me  that  I  must  soon  follow,  must  soon  bid  adieu  to  time  and 
things  of  time,  to  all  my  earthly  friends  and  earthly  enjoyments,  both  of 
time  and  sense.  I  patiently  wait  for  death  to  come  as  my  friend,  and 
loose  my  servile  chain.  He  hath  many  forms,  nor  should  they  all  be 
fearful  when  he  comes  to  us  as  a  deliverer. 

"  My  sister  Mary  is  still  living,  and  enjoys  a  reasonable  share  of  good 
health,  considering  her  advanced  age. 

"  She  is  now  nearly  seventy-six  years  old.  She  was  born  seven  years 
and  six  months  after  me.  She  lives  with  her  son  John,  who  was  the 
last  of  her  children  that  married,  which  took  place  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1825.  But  I  must  close  this  with  my  best  love  and  esteem  to 
you  and  your  family.     I  add  no  more  but  remain,  your  loving  brother 

"  David  Cathcart. 
"  To  Andrew  Cathcart." 

DAVID   CATHCART   TO    MARY   SHERRARD. 

"  Dunbar  Township,  Fayette  County,  Penna. 
"  February  20,  1821. 

"  Dear  Sister, 

"  I  have  taken  up  my  pen  with  a  trembling  hand  to  inform  you 
and  all  friends  that  we  are  all  in  a  middling  state  of  health  at  present. 
We  thank  God  for  his  mercies.  David  has  been  poorly  for  eight  or  ten 
days,  with  a  swelling  on  one  side  of  the  head,  but  it  is  getting  better.  I 
have  received  a  letter  from  my  brother  Andrew  Cathcart.  It  informs 
me  all  are  well.  He  is  married  to  the  third  wife, — a  widow  with  seven 
children,  four  sons  and  three  daughters.  It  is  seven  years  since  his 
marriage  took  place.  He  has  one  daughter  by  her,  called  Elizabeth 
Ann  Cathcart.     His  wife's  name  is  Sally  Betsy. 

"  He  says  that  he  has  an  affectionate  wife,  and  loving  children,  which 
compensates  for  the  charge  he  has  taken,  and  all  live  together  in  the 
greatest  harmony.  He  writes  that  his  son  John,  born  to  him  by  the 
first  wife,  is  gone  to  Genesee,  170  miles  from  home   to  commence  busi- 


FA  MIL  1  •  LE  TTERS.  347 

ness  for  himself.  He  also  states  that  his  son  John  is  to  be  married  to 
his  oldest  stepdaughter,  of  whom  he  says,  she  is  very  pious.  His  own 
daughter  is  six  years  old,  and  a  fine  girl  of  her  age.  She  is  always 
talking  of  her  uncle  and  aunt  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  Dear  sister,  brother  sends  his  kind  love  to  you  and  your  children,  in 
hope  that  you  and  them  are  thinking  of  that  change  which  must  take 
place  one  day  or  other,  and  wishes  that  you  and  them  would  not  neglect 
writing  to  let  him  know  how  you  are  coming  on,  both  for  time  and  eter- 
nity. He  has  sent  me  a  great  deal  of  talk ;  good  talk  on  our  eternal 
state.  He  further  adds  that  they  are  blessed  with  plenty  of  bread,  but  no 
market  for  anything,  owing  to  the  turn  of  times.  Your  aunt  desires  to 
be  remembered  to  sister,  to  Mary,  to  Robert,  to  Rebecca  and  all  inquir- 
ing friends.  My  wish  to  God  is  that  He  will  prepare  us  for  His  heavenly 
kingdom,  is  the  sincere  desire  of, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother  to  death, 

"  David  Cathcart. 
"  To  his  sister  Mary  Sherrard." 

BAPTIST    IRVINE    TO    DAVID   CATHCART. 

"  Phil.\delphia,  June  4,  1805. 
"  Much  Esteemed  Friend  : 

"A  true  statement  ought  ever  to  be  the  only  apology  for  neglects 
of  correspondence  between  genuine  friends.  Immediately  after  I  received 
your  last  favor,  I  determined  to  write  to  you  ;  but  as  several  letters  were 
then  due  from  me  to  others,  I  wrote  them;  and  as  I  was  in  much  hurry 
then,  I  actually  forgot  my  determination. 

"This  is  the  truth  ;  but  when  I  frankly  declare  that  a  leaky  memory, 
and  not  a  deficiency  of  respect,  was  the  sole  cause  of  my  delinquency,  I 
hope  to  be  forgiven,  more  especially  as  my  letters  can  never  be  worth 
the  reading,  circumscribed  as  I  am  both  as  to  talents  and  means  of 
information.  Letters  have  lately  been  received  by  Mr.  Hughes  from 
William  Gamble,  who  is  about  establishing  himself  in  business  in  Bel- 
fast ;  and  I  have  lately  had  a  letter  from  my  father,  mentioning  that 
most  of  our  friends  are  in  good  health,  except  David  Gamble,  who  is  in 
a  bad  state  of  health.  I  was  very  happy,  my  dear  friend,  to  learn,  by  a 
letter  lately  received  from  my  sister,  that  Peggy  has  met  with  the  kind- 
est treatment  from  your  hands. 


348  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

"  Removed  to  a  distance  as  I  am  from  these  poor  girls,  it  gladdens 
my  heart  to  find  that  they  have  a  generous  friend.  I  trust  I  shall  live 
to  make  you  amends  hereafter.  As  to  myself,  I  had  some  thoughts,  if 
Alexander  had  come  here  last  winter,  to  have  laid  some  plan  of  quitting 
this  city,  if  not  printing  altogether,  as  I  have  found  that  it  is  impossible 
to  clear  anything  at  it  here  in  my  capacity.  But  you  already  know,  I 
presume,  of  his  return  to  Kentucky.  Poor  fellow,  I  was  sorry  for  his 
misfortunes;  I  thought  him  imprudent  in  several  transactions.  Our 
friend  Hughes  is  well,  and  desires  that  his  respects  be  presented  to  you 
and  Mrs.  Cathcart. 

"  I  have  not  heard  from  Alexander  since  he  went  last  for  Kentucky. 
Be  good  enough  to  mention  whether  you  have  heard  from  him.  I  won- 
der very  much  that  my  sister  Peggy  has  not  written  to  me.  Should  it 
ever  be  necessary  for  you  to  have  any  business  to  attend  to,  I  shall 
assist  you  as  far  as  in  my  power.  At  all  events  write  to  me,  if  it  were 
only  to  let  me  know  how  you  and  family  are.  John  Cook  lived  at  St. 
Clairsville  a  few  months  ago,  and  was  well  when  he  wrote  to  me.  He 
was  disappointed  somehow  in  getting  money  from  his  uncle.  Write  to 
me  in  care  of  Mr.  Armstrong,  corner  of  Third  and  Plum  Streets,  Phila- 
delphia. I  am,  with  my  best  wishes  for  the  welfare  of  yourself  and 
family.  Your  unchangeable  friend, 

"  B.  Irvine. 

"To  David  Cathcart." 

DAVID  CATHCART   TO   BAPTIST   IRVINE. 

"  Dunbar  Township,  Fayette  County,  Pa. 
"  March  9,  1S07. 
"  Respected  Friend  : 

"  I  have  sent  you  several  letters,  but  have  received  no  account  from 
you  this  long  time.  Now  I  have  determined  to  let  you  know  how  all 
the  friends  in  this  country  are  doing.  Your  sisters  are  all  well  at 
present. 

"  Your  sister  Margaret  has  come  from  Greensburg  after  pa)'ing  her 
friends  a  visit,  and  all  were  well  when  she  left  them.  I  am  very  happy 
in  having  her  so  near,  as  she  is  the  only  friend  I  have  in  this  part  of  the 
country.     She  is  doing  very  well,  and  is  very  much  respected. 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  349 

"  I  hope  j'ou  will  do  me  the  favor  as  to  let   my  friends  in   Ireland 

know,  by  a  letter  from  your  hand  directed  to  my  mother,  that  we  are 

all  well  as  usual,  only  wearing  away  to  the  other  country.     Sister  Mary 

and  family  are  living  over  the  Ohio,  seventy  miles  from  me.     Brother 

Andrew  was  to  see  me  last  July  was  a  year;  he  went  back  to  Albany 

in  twelve  days.      He  sent  me  a  letter  from  there ;  but  I  have  got  none 

since.     I  think  he  is  dead,  for  he  told  me.  he  would  write  frequently  to 

me.     I  have  had  no  account  from  Ale.xander  this  long  time. 

"  David  Cathcart. 
"To  Baptist  Irvine." 

The  mother  of  Baptist  Irvine  was  a  full  cousin  of  David  Cathcart, 
and  her  maiden  name  was  Nancy  Rachel  Gamble.  She  married  John 
Irvine,  and  they  lived  at  Clabby,  near  Enniskillen,  Ireland.  Their  six 
children  came  to  America  in  1794.     (See  the  Gamble  records.) 

It  is  amusing  to  hear  Baptist  Irvine  in  his  letter  given  above  saying 
that  "  my  letters  can  never  be  worth  reading,  circumscribed  as  I  am, 
both  as  to  talents  and  means  of  information,"  when  all  accounts  agree 
that  he  was  an  unusually  gifted  person,  a  writer  of  his  time  of  great 
distinction,  and  a  man  of  extensive  travel  and  wide  information.  His 
brother  James  was  the  oldest  child.  He  was  married  and  lived  in  West- 
moreland County,  and  had  nine  children.  They  removed  to  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  in  1853. 

One  of  the  sons  of  this  James  Irvine  was  Hugh,  and  the  following 
correspondence  between  him  and  my  father  will  give  some  further 
information  about  the  Irvine  family. 

ROBERT   A.    SHERRARD  TO  HUGH   IRVINE. 

"Sugar  Hill  Farm,  near  Steubenville,  O., 
"Tuesday,  February  10,  1863. 

"  Mr.  Hugh  Irvine: 

"  Dear  Sir, — For  some  days  past  I  have  thought  I  would  write 
you  a  letter,  but  what  should  I  write  about  to  a  man  I  have  never  seen, 
and  I  thought  I  would  draw  upon  my  memory  and  write  about  some- 
thing I  remember. 

"  Well,  I  remember  that  in  1798  your  uncle,  Alex.  Irvine,  and  Wil- 
liam Cook,  his  cousin,  came  to  my  father's  and  staid  a  few  days.     Cook 


350  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

afterwards  at  an  early  period  settled  in  Cincinnati.  This  was  not  long 
after  your  father,  his  two  brothers  and  three  sisters,  with  William 
Hughes  and  William  Cook,  left  near  Enniskillen,  Ireland,  and  came  to 
the  United  States.  William  Cook  got  a  place  as  clerk  at  Isaac  Mason's 
furnace  under  the  chief  clerk,  old  Greenough,  but  had  to  leave  in  a 
month  or  two. 

"  And  I  remember  mother  asked  young  Cook  why  he  had  to  leave 
so  soon,  and  his  answer  was  that  he  did  not  know,  unless  it  was  that  he 
was  too  honest  for  them.  I  remember  to  have  heard  it  said  frequently 
by  Mason's  hired  men  that  Mason  and  his  clerk  Greenough  were 
notoriously  dishonest,  charging  poor  work  hands  with  more  than 
they  got. 

"  I  believe  Cook  soon  made  his  way  to  Cincinnati,  where  you  prob- 
ably know  more  about  him  than  I  do.  But  as  to  your  uncle,  Alex. 
Irvine,  he  soon  got  a  school  to  teach  convenient  to  where  my  brother 
David  now  lives,  and  while  thus  employed  made  his  home  at  my  uncle 
David  Cathcart's,  who  was  a  son  of  Ann  Gamble,  and  aunt  to  your 
grandmother  Irvine.  Alexander  Irvine  joined  in  company  with  several 
others  to  escort  an  old  Englishman  and  his  family  to  Big  Sandy,  the 
upper  north  line  of  your  State,  to  seek  a  silver  mine,  which  the  old  man 
Swift,  the  old  schoolmaster,  said  he  had  discovered  on  Big  Sandy  years 
before. 

"  Each  of  these  men  thus  joined  in  Swift's  company  was  to  have  a 
certain  share  as  stock  in  the  silver  mine. 

"This  all  being  settled  and  agreed  upon,  the  company  made  every 
necessary  arrangement  to  be  off  to  Kentucky  on  their  enterprise.  They 
purchased  a  small  family  boat,  furnished  it  with  all  necessary  provisions, 
and  paid  off  a  considerable  debt  that  old  schoolmaster  Swift  owed  to 
his  creditors.  Then  with  all  Swift's  family  on  board  they  left  Fayette 
County,  Pa  ,  for  Big  Sandy,  Kentucky,  the  spring  season  of  1799. 
That  he  might  have  no  lack  of  money,  and  not  knowing  how  soon  he 
might  have  the  handling  of  ingots  of  silver  from  old  Swift's  silver  mine, 
Alex.  Irvine  sold  his  old  Irish  Enniskillen  watch  to  uncle  Cathcart,  and 
my  brother  David  has  it  yet,  and  will  keep  it  while  he  lives  as  a  keep- 
sake, on  account  of  his  first  wife,  who  was  Betsy  Irvine,  and  her  brother, 
Alex.  Irvine. 


FA  MIL  \ '  LE  TTERS.  3ol 

"  And  I  do  hope  he  will  not  leave  it  in  possession  of  the  present  wife, 
for  he  ought  to  leave  it  to  some  of  his  first  wife's  people  of  the  Irvine 
name. 

"  But  I  know  you  are  ready  to  ask  what  about  the  silver  mine  ? 
Why,  after  they  had  landed  at  the  mouth  of  Big  Sandy,  they  left  Swift's 
family  in  the  boat,  and  set  off  with  Swift  in  search  of  the  mine,  but  after 
a  long  and  fruitless  search  during  the  whole  of  the  summer  months,  they 
were  unable  to  find  so  much  as  a  trace  of  it. 

"  But  these  men  came  home  to  Fayette  County  in  the  fall  with  their 
clothes  badly  torn  and  patched  and  stitched  together,  and  now  sixty- 
three  years  have  passed  away  and  I  have  not  heard  in  all  that  time  of 
any  silver  mine  being  found  in  that  locality. 

"  After  his  return  from  that  expedition,  October,  1799,  Alex.  Irvine 
taught  school  as  opportunity  served  till  1801,  when  we  find  him  study- 
ing Latin  under  Rev.  James  Dunlap,  pastor  of  Laurel  Hill  congregation. 
He  afterwards  studied  medicine,  and  settled  down  in  Greensburg,  Ky., 
where  my  youngest  brother  Thomas,  on  his  way  from  New  Orleans  the 
last  of  July,  1 82 1,  stopped  with  Dr.  Alex.  Irvine  and  found  him  married 
to  a  widow.  Peggy  Irvine,  you  know,  married  Robert  Davis,  but  he 
proved  rather  a  profligate  by  turns. 

"  After  they  came  to  Ohio  she  resided  in  our  family  with  her  three 
children,  a  girl  and  two  boys,  all  she  ever  had,  I  believe,  from  spring 
till  fall  of  1 8 14.  During  this  time  he  was  working  at  his  trade  in 
Marietta,  O. 

"  Late  in  the  fall  he  came  up  and  moved  his  family  to  that  place,  and 
afterwards  he  removed  to  Circleville,  O.,  where  he  cut  a  wide  swath  for 
a  time,  as  he  had  done  in  Uniontown  before  that.  But  he  again  broke 
up  in  Circleville,  and  moved  over  the  Scioto  River  ten  miles,  and  went 
to  farming,  where  I  found  him  and  family  June  17,  1825. 

"  I  staid  with  them  two  days  and  two  nights  and  then  bid  them 
farewell. 

"  Baptist  Irvine  went  through  many  checkered  scenes  in  life,  and 
ended  his  days  in  New  Orleans.  After  the  Irvine  family  arrived  in  this 
country  from  near  Enniskillen,  Baptist  Irvine  learned  the  printing 
business  in  Washington,  Pa.,  with  one  John  Colrick,  and  this  was  among 
the  very  first  printing  establishments  in  the  western  country. 


352  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

After  some  time  we  find  Baptist  Irvine  co-editor  of  the  "  Aurora,"  in 
Philadelphia,  with  Duane.  But  time  and  paper  would  fail  me  to  trace 
his  footsteps  round ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  the  last  time  I  saw  Baptist 
Irvine  he  came  and  staid  a  week  with  us  the  summer  of  1820. 

"  Please  excuse  the  scribbling  liberty  I  have  taken ;  I  may  not  thus 
intrude  my  sentiments  of  bygone  days  again.     Farewell, 

"  Robert  A.  Sherrard." 

HUGH   IRVINE    TO   ROBERT   A.    SHERRARD. 

"  Louisville,  March  4,  1863. 
"  Dear  Friend  : 

"  For  I  will  call  you  '  friend,' as  I  always  regarded  all  of  your 
name  on  account  of  the  esteem  I  have  always  had  for  uncle  David 
Sherrard.  I  received  your  letter  in  due  time  and  was  glad  to  hear  from 
you,  and  pleased  with  the  information  you  gave  of  the  early  life  of  some 
of  our  friends.  I  never  saw  Alexander  Irvine,  but  understand  he  died 
in  Greensburg,  in  this  State,  many  years  ago.  William  Cook  died  near 
Lexington,  Ky.,  several  years  ago.  Uncle  Alex.  Irvine  left  no  children. 
William  Cook  left,  I  believe,  a  family  of  children,  but  I  have  never  seen 
any  of  them.  Uncle  Davis,  I  understand,  died  in  Illinois  some  years 
ago.  Aunt  Peggy  having  died  many  years  before,  I  believe,  he  was 
married  to  a  second  wife. 

"Uncle  Baptist  Irvine,  as  you  state,  died  in  New  Orleans  in  1833. 
My  father,  James  Irvine,  was  born  in  1769,  and  settled  in  Westmore- 
land County,  Pa.  He  lived  there  till  October,  1853,  when  he  and  my 
two  single  sisters  came  with  me  and  my  family  here,  and  he  died  Novem- 
ber 3,  1854. 

"  There  were  nine  children  of  my  father's  family,  five  boys  and  four 
girls,  six  of  whom  are  living,  and  all  here  but  my  youngest  sister,  who  is 
married  to  John  H.  Anderson,  and  still  lives  in  Westmoreland  County, 
Pa.  I  married  in  1840  Miss  Ann  Carothers,  a  daughter  of  William 
Carothers,  formerly  of  Enniskillen,  Ireland,  and  came  to  this  country 
about  1800,  and  settled  near  Congruity,  Pa.  My  wife  died  June  11,  1854, 
and  left  seven  children  ;  two  of  them  have  since  died.  I  have  three  sons 
and  two  daughters  who  have  managed  the  house  affairs  for  the  past 
seven  years. 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  353 

"  Mary,  my  youngest  daughter,  has  been  going  to  school  at  P.'Ir.  Hill's 
Seminary  at  Anchorage,  and  is  taught  by  your  daughter  Nancy.  Mary 
and  your  daughter  came  down  last  Friday  evening,  and  returned  Mon- 
day morning.  My  oldest  son  is  in  the  army;  he  is  a  Lieutenant  in  the 
28th  Kentucky  Regiment  of  Union  Volunteers  now  in  Clarksville,  Tenn. 
The  watch  that  you  say  uncle  David  has,  I  would  like  to  have  after 
uncle  David's  death,  not  for  the  mere  value  of  it,  but  as  a  remembrance 
of  the  Irvine  family. 

"  I  will  be  pleased  to  have  a  letter  from  you  at  any  time,  and  as   often 

as  you  can  find  it  convenient  to  write.     We  are  all  well   at  present,  and 

your  daughter  was  well  on  Monday  morning  when  she  left  on  the  cars 

for  her  school.  "  Yours  with  respect, 

"  Hugh  Irvine. 
"  Mr.  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  Sr." 

There  are  many  old  letters  from  uncle  David  to  father,  and  a  few  from 
uncle  to  other  friends ;  a  few  from  uncles  John  and  Thomas,  but  there  is 
only  one  letter  from  uncle  William  to  be  found. 

I  have  selected  one  letter  from  each  of  the  five  brothers,  taking  those 
which  seemed  to  me  would  be  of  general  and  permanent  interest. 

II.  LETTERS  FROM  THE  FIVE  SHERRARD  BROTHERS. 

WILLIAM   SHERRARD  TO   DAVID   A.    C.    SHERRARD. 

"Rush  Run  Mills,  Jefferson  Co.,  O. 
"  December  4,  18 16. 

"  Dear  Brother, 

"  I  take  this  opportunity  of  informing  you  that  we  are  all  in  a  tol- 
erable state  of  health  at  present,  and  hope  that  these  ^<t^N  lines  may  find 
you  all  in  good  health  also.  But  we  are  almost  out  of  patience  looking  for 
you  and  Betsy  these  three  weeks  past,  but  we  have  generally  concluded 
that  John  is  sick  and  not  able  to  come  with  you,  or'that  he  is  looking  out 
for  a  wife  or  some  other  nonsense.  But  you  may  tell  him  to  hurry  home, 
for  he  is  losing  ground  in  this  quarter.  His  old  acquaintance  Phebe 
Filson  was  married  back  foremost  to  a  Mr.  Thomas  Odbert  of  Smith- 
field,  a  hatter  to  trade ;  but  don't  misunderstand  me  in  saying  '  back 
23 


354  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

foremost,'  for  when   she  stood    up   she  fainted,  and  the  second  trial  the 
minister  stood  at  their  backs  while  saying  the  ceremony. 

"  But  no  more  of  this ;  tell  me  something  of  grain  and  the  price. 
Wheat  is  ^1.30  at  Steubenville,  and  $1.25  at  our  mill,  and  it  is  generally 
thought  it  will  be  higher  by  spring.  But  we  have  engaged  seven  or 
eight  hundred  bushels  at  the  present  price.  Corn  is  frosted  more  in  this 
country  than  it  was  ever  known  to  be  since  it  was  first  inhabited.  Corn 
has  been  selling  for  fifty  cents  at  the  heap,  and  sixty,  but  it  is  now  sev- 
enty-five cents  a  bushel,  and  flour  has  been  selling  at  ;^  10.00  a  barrel  in 
Pittsburgh  about  two  weeks  since,  but  it  is  now  falling  in  price. 

"  But  again,  we  have  a  new  bank  in  operation  in  Smithfield,  and 
Thomas  and  Robert  have  subscribed  two  shares  ;  Thomas  has  drawn 
^200  to  purchase  wheat,  and  intends  applying  for  ;^200  more  to-morrow. 
Nothing  more  worth  relating,  but  desire  to  be  remembered  to  uncle  and 
aunt,  and  Betsy,  and  remain,  "  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  William  Sherkard. 

"  To  David  .\.  C.  Sherrard." 

DAVID  A.  C.  SHERRARD  TO  JOHN  SHERRARD. 

"  Dunbar  Township,  Fayette  County,  Pa., 
October  28,  1833. 

"  Dear  John, 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  paying  the  last  respects  to  the  mortal 
remains  of  our  dear  old  mother.  She  departed  this  life  on  yesterday 
morning  at  fifteen  minutes  past  six  (Sabbath).  On  Monday  last  she  was 
taken  with  a  chill  at  breakfast,  which  was  noticed  by  Betsy  who  threw  a 
cloak  around  her.  She  soon  afterwards  went  to  bed,  and  complained  of 
a  stitch  in  her  left  side  just  below  the  left  breast ;  this  was  removed  by 
the  application  of  salt  heated."  (Uncle  David  proceeds  to  give  a  minute 
account  of  the  last  illness  of  grandmother  Sherrard,  and  concludes  as 
follows.  T.  J.  S.)  "She  seldom  complained,  but  I  could  perceive  by  the 
contracting  of  her  countenance  that  she  was  often  pained.  As  to  other 
particulars,  I  am  ready  to  answer  such  questions  as  you  may  ask  here- 
after. I  laid  mother  beside  her  father's  bones,  on  the  right  side  of  his 
grave,  which  opened  little  sister  Mary  Ann's  grave. 

"  Nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  some  black  mole,  and   two   small  pieces 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  355 

of  the  coffin,  cherry  of  which  the  coffin  was  made,  and  of  which  perhaps 
the  black  mole  was  a  part. 

"  Old  uncle  bore  it  with  calm  fortitude,  but  feelingly.  He  would  often 
go  in  and  speak  to  her  in  a  tender,  affectionate  manner,  and  wipe  the 
tear  from  his  eye. 

"  When  told  of  her  death,  he  said  '  The  Lord's  will  be  done.'  Now  he 
laments  the  loss  of  his  company,  for  he  often  held  lengthy  conversations 
with  her,  and  was  very  affectionate  to  her.  He  is  in  usual  health.  Betsy 
is  still  complaining  of  the  pain  in  her  side  on  which  she  has  had  two 
blisters,  and  must  repeat  them.  I  am  in  good  health  since  relieved  of  my 
complaint  in  the  stomach,  but  have  a  world  of  care,  trouble  and  expense 
to  wade  through.  Baptist  Irvine  was  in  New  Orleans  on  the  26th  of 
June  last  editing  the  New  Orleans  '  Bulletin.'  I  have  written  a  short 
line  to  Robert,  and  refer  him  to  your  letter  for  particulars  which  you 
may  give  by  copy  or  send  this. 

My  best  respects  to  you  and  sister  and  sons. 

David  A.  C.  Sherrard." 

"  To  John  Sherrard." 

JOHN  SHERRARD  TO  ROBERT  A.  SHERRARD. 

"  PiNEY  Fork.  Mills,  4  miles  west  of  Smithfield,  O. 
"January  12,  1852. 
"  Respected  Friends, 

"I  just  take  up  my  pen  this  morning  to  inform  you  that  we  are 
all  in  usual  health.  Son  William  arrived  home  from  Union  County, 
Ohio  on  Saturday  evening  last,  where  he  had  been  uniting  himself  to  a 
wife.  He  was  married  on  Monday  evening,  the  5th  of  Januarj^  instant, 
to  Margaret  Jane  Neal,  his  cousin,  Lucinda  was  out  with  him.  They 
left  home  on  Tuesday  before  New  Year's  day,  and  they  had  a  pretty 
rough  time  of  it.  They  made  their  appearance  yesterday  at  Beech 
Spring  meeting  house,  and  there  were  more  looking  at  him  and  his  new 
wife  than  at  the  preacher,  as  there  were  but  few  knew  he  was  from  home, 
and  none  knew  his  errand  but  his  uncle  Adam.  William's  mother  had 
told  her  brother  Adam  what  was  going  on.  The  Thompsons  and 
Smiths  did  not  know  for  several  days  after  he  had  started  that  he  was 
gone ;  then  the  inquiry  was  where   they  were   gone  to.     I  told  them  he 


356  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

was  gone  to  see  his  cousin  Margaret  J.  Neal  married.   I  never  was  asked 
who  to,  so  I  got  along  on  that  score  very  well. 

"  We  are  not  going  to  have  any  infare,  but  I  want  all  the  friends  and 
cousins  to  come  and  see  us  as  soon  as  they  can.  I  would  like  that  old 
Robert  A.  Sherrard  and  his  wife  Jane,  could  be  here  on  Tuesday  next,  as 
we  expect  to  invite  old  father  Harrah  and  wife  down  to  take  dinner  with  us 
on  that  day.  The  rest  of  the  friends  I  intend  to  invite  to  come  just  when 
they  see  proper. 

"  If  Robert  and  Jane  cannot  come,  Joseph  and  Jane,  Jr.,  might  come. 
Remember  to  tell  Joseph  Hill  and  Mary  Ann  that  we  want  to  see  them. 
I  want  you  to  let  young  Robert  know  that  we  would  be  happy  in  seeing 
him  and  his  wife,  and  don't  forget  John. 

"All   come  as   soon  as  you  can.     Our  house  is  so  cold,  and  only  one 

fireplace,  or  I  should  hav^  all  the  friends  at  once.     No  more. 

"  Yours  with  respect, 

"  John  Sherrard." 
"To  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  Sr.'' 

ROBERT  A.  SHERRARD  TO  THOMAS  G.  SHERRARD. 

"  Rush  Run,  September  25,  1823. 
"  Dear  Brother  and  Sister, 

"  We  received  your  favor  of  last  August,  and  were  glad  to  hear  of 
your  good  health,  and  you  had  need  to  be  thankful  for  the  rich  blessing. 
Mary  and  I  enjoyed  reasonably  good  health  from  the  time  we  were 
married  until  lately,  when  we  were  both  afflicted,  and  her  illness  resulted 
in  her  death,  of  which  you  have  already  heard.  Mary  and  our  little 
daughter  Elizabeth  were  both  sick  nearly  at  the  same  time.  We  still 
entertained  hopes  of  Mary's  recovery,  at  least  some  days  she  appeared 
so  much  better,  and  then  on  other  days  worse,  yet  notwithstanding  she 
was  better  by  turns,  she  would  frequently  lament  about  her  poor  child- 
ren, and  query  what  would  become  of  them.  At  one  time  I  was  sitting  on 
the  bedside  and  asked  her  how  she  was.  She  said  :  '  I  am  willing  to  go, 
but  how  will  you  and  the  children  do?  Will  you  marry  again  and  keep 
house,  and  keep  the  children  together,  or  will  you  break  up  housekeep- 
ing ? '  At  this  touching  appeal  my  heart  bled  and  the  tears  flowed,  for 
this  was  the  most  severe  wound  I  had  ever  experienced  in  all  my  life,  and 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  357 

although  the  smart  by  times  is  gone,  yet  the  remembrance  of  what  I 
suffered  at  that  time  is  fresh,  and  since  often  when  by  myself  it  causes 
the  silent  tear  to  flow  and  roll  down  my  sunken  hollow  whitened  cheeks  ; 
but  particularly  when  I  have  reflected  and  do  reflect  that  one  who  was  my 
earthly  joy  and  comfort  I  shall  see  no  more,  meet  no  more,  hear  no 
more,  converse  with  no  more  on  this  earthly  ball. 

"  Depend  upon  it,  my  brother,  it  is  a  trial  which  no  person  can  have  a 
proper  or  just  conception  of  until  they  gain  it  by  experience.  But  to 
return  to  the  que.stions  she  asked  :  I  answered  that  I  could  have  no  in- 
clination to  marry  again  very  soon.  She  then  requested  that  if  I  should 
break  up  housekeeping,  I  must  leave  Mary  Ann  and  Joseph  with  my 
mother,  and  David  with  his  uncle  David,  and  Elizabeth  with  her  own 
mother,  and  Robert  the  babe  with  her  sister  Sarah  Andrews. 

"A  mortification  struck  on  the  glands  of  the  heart  after  her  fever, 
which  lasted  twelve  hours  and  ended  the  existence  of  one  of  the  best  of 
wives  ;  one  who  was  kind  and  affectionate  to  her  husband  and  children, 
courteous  to  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  hospitable  to  strangers. 

"  But  she  has  gone  and  has  left  me  and  her  children  to  mourn  their 
loss.  She  was  too  good  for  me,  and  her  heavenly  Father  called  her 
home.  I  had  been  taken  ill  of  the  fever  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  July, 
just  at  the  time  when  Mary  was  at  her  worst,  but  by  the  time  of  her 
death  on  the  31st  of  July  I  was  able  to  be  up  a  little  for  two  days  before. 
In  the  course  of  two  weeks  I  was  able  to  walk  alone,  and  during  this 
time  my  mind  was  much  employed  in  devising  plans  for  housekeeping, 
for  when  I  looked  around  upon  my  five  motherless  children,  my  heart 
yearned  over  them,  and  I  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  having  them 
scattered  far,  far  away  from  each  other. 

"  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  would  send  my  brother-in-law  Joseph 
Kithcart  up  to  his  mother's  that  he  might  bring  down  his  sister  Betsy  to 
assist  her  sister  Kezia  in  the  house  and  to  take  care  of  the  children,  with 
directions  that  if  she  would  not  come,  to  bring  with  him  his  sister  Sarah 
Andrews  to  take  home  with  her  the  young  child  Robert.  Accordingly 
he  took  the  carriage  and  went  up  to  his  mother's  but  Betsy  would  not 
come  with  him. 

"  But  Sarah  Andrews  came  with  him,  and  aunt  Betsy  Sherrard  came 
down  in  a  separate  carriage  to  see  us. 


358  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

"'They  only  staid  from  Saturday  evening  till  Wednesday  morning,  and 
I  fixed'  up  and  went  with  them,  although  still  very  weak.  I  staid  away 
three  weeks  and  four  days,  and  got  the  consent  of  mother-in-law  to  move 
down  and  oversee  my  household  affairs,  and  act  as  matron  and  governess 
for  the  children.  I  am  to  go  and  move  her  down  by  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber. This  will  be  a  considerable  expense,  but  I  hope  it  will  prove  a 
blessing  to  me  and  my  children. 

"  I  shall  add  no  more,  but  remain,         Yours, 


"  Robert  A.  Sherrard. 


'  To  Thomas  G.  Sherrard." 


THOMAS  G.  SHERRARD  TO  ROBERT  A.  SHERRARD. 

"Sandusky,  August  19,  1823. 
"  My  Dearly  Beloved  Brother  : 

"  Of  all  friends  on  this  earth  the  nearest  and  the  best  beloved  !  I 
this  day  have  received  my  brother  John's  letter  of  the  3d  of  August  in- 
stant, which  wounds  me  to  the  heart,  and  likewise  the  heart  of  Rebecca. 
When  we  think  of  the  mass  of  sorrow  our  dear  brother  must  be  envel- 
oped in,  and  when  we  think  still  and  reflect  on  that  loss  to  ourselves,  the 
loss  of  a  near  and  dear  sister  whom  we  both  so  sincerely  loved,  the  grief 
is  more  than  we  can  bear.  Alas  !  alas  !  !  alas  ! ! !  how  can  you  stand  the 
severe  trials  of  this  life  ?  But  in  that  God  who  has  sent  us  into  this 
world  is  that  asylum  of  comfort  to  be  found,  and  no  other  worldly  pur- 
suits or  enjoyments  can  give  such  blessings  as  the  divine  will  can 
bestow. 

"  Depend  on  him  and  weep  not,  for  you  have  your  sphere  to  fill  in 
this  life.  Poor  Mary  is  no  more !  poor  Mary  is  no  more !  is  still  re- 
sounding in  our  ears,  although  not  unaffected  by  either  of  us,  as  was 
hinted  in  my  address  to  her  brother  Cunningham ;  we  were  both  con- 
scious, and  are  yet  conscious  that  when  we  bade  her  farewell  it  appeared 
to  us  that  farewell  was  the  last  of  one  whom  we  never  shall  forget  as  a 
dear,  a  near  and  a  loving  sister. 

"  Oh  !  that  sister  I  Oh  !  that  sister  !  that  unexceptionable  sister!  shall 
we  ever  be  able  to  check  that  flood  that  now  gushes  from  our  eyes,  or 
calm  that  flow  of  sorrow  that  ruffles  our  brows,  and  see  the  storm  of 
grief  blow  past !     August  the  19th,  this  day  three   months  ago  we   left 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  359 

you  !  What  you  will  do  it  is  hard  for  me  to  tell.  I  don't  want  you  to 
harbor  the  idea  of  parting  your  children.  Keep  them  together,  as 
natural  affection  being  acquired  they  will  love  each  other  and  be  better 
brought  up  together,  and  you  will  be  more  blessed  with  a  contented 
mind,  even  if  you  should  raise  them  on  bread  and  water — better  than  if 
they  should  live  with  their  friends  on  the  richest  luxuries  of  life.  This 
is  my  advice,  and  1  can  give  no  better. 

"  Your  loving  brother  and  sister,  bearing  you  in  mind  till  death, 

"Thomas  and  Rebecca  Sherrard. 

"  To  Robert  A.  Sherrard." 

Of  those  five  children  left  motherless  in  1823,  four  are  yet  living  this 
2 1st  day  of  December,  1889.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  already  recorded 
how  father  did  follow  the  advice  of  his  brother  Thomas,  and  kept  the 
children  together;  first,  by  getting  his  mother-in-law,  their  grandmother 
Kithcart,  to  keep  house  for  him,  and  then  after  about  four  years  by 
marrying  Jane  Hindman. 

And  now  sixty-six  years  after  their  own  mother's  death,  two  of  these 
five  children — David  and  Robert — have  written  birthday  letters  to  their 
second  mother,  congratulating  her  on  reaching  her  eighty-fifth  birthday 
on  December  14th,  1889.  Without  the  knowledge  of  these  two  brothers 
I  take  the  liberty  of  recording  their  letters  just  here. 

Although  they  were  written  as  private  letters  to  mother  only,  yet  I 
feel  that  they  are  so  full  of  interest  to  the  whole  family  connection  that 
they  ought  to  have  a  place  among  these  Historical  Letters. 

III.  BIRTHDAY  LETTERS. 

DAVID  TO  MOTHER. 

"  Fremont,  O.,  December  i,  1889. 
"  Dear  Mother  : 

"  I  have  just  been  thinking  that  four  days  more  brings  on  your 
eighty-fifth  birthday,  and  Oh  I  how  thankful  we  as  children  should  feel 
that  God  in  his  goodness  has  spared  your  life  and  permitted  you  to  stay 
and  comfort  us  with  your  presence.  While  we  are  all  growing  old, 
,when  I  think  of  it,  if  I  live  one  month  from  this  day  I  will  be  seventy, 


360  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

and  am  now  enjoying  good  health  ;  not  an  ache  or  pain  about  me,  thanks 
be  to  our  Father  in  heaven,  he  has  been  good  to  us  all. 

"  My  mind  runs  back  to  the  days  of  my  youth,  and  to  the  pleasures 
and  the  labors  of  the  past,  and  when  we  were  yet  children  and  you  had  a 
mother's  care  over  us  all. 

"  When  I  left  home,  being  the  first  one  of  the  children  to  leave  the  old 
home,  I  left  a  dear  father  and  a  kind  mother,  and  ten  dear  brothers  and 
sisters.  Thomas  was  not  born  then,  but  well  do  I  remember  the  day 
sister  Sarah  was  born,  and  how  I  had  to  hitch  up  the  old  yellow  sleigh 
and  skip  over  the  snow  and  bring  in  the  old  ladies,  Mrs.  Erwin,  Mrs. 
McConnell,  Mrs.  Williams,  and  I  don't  think  who  else,  only  I  know  it 
was  Sunday,  and  I  had  to  skip  down  to  town  and  into  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  slip  quietly  to  old  Dr.  Leslie's  pew  and  whisper  to  him  that 
he  was  wanted.  He  got  up  and  out,  and  we  were  soon  on  the  way  to 
old  Sugar  Hill  Farm,  and  in  the  evening  I  carried  him  back,  as  the 
Irishman  would  say. 

"  Well,  mother,  I  can't  come  to  see  you  on  this  birthday,  but  hope  I 
may  see  you  before  long.  If  you  will  come  here  the  loth  of  next  month, 
we  will  have  a  fat  turkey  roasted  and  give  you  a  full  share.  Now  I  will 
say  we  are  all  in  our  usual  health. 

"  Ida  is  in  town  at  Robert's  since  last  Saturday.  I  will  go  for  her  to- 
morrow as  we  e.xpect  to  kill  our  hogs  Thursday.  Our  children  and 
theirs  were  all  well  last  report.  We  had  late  letters  from  Alabama ; 
Lizzie  and  Rose  write  that  they  like  their  homes,  and  are  doing  as  well 
as  could  be  expected.  They  had  a  good  crop  of  corn  and  potatoes,  oats 
and  hay ;  had  no  wheat ;  cotton  was  poor,  and  they  had  frost  early  which 
hurt  that  and  the  buckwheat. 

"  We  e.xpect  Laura  and  her  two  girls  here  to  spend  the  holidays. 
Lottie  is  busy  in  her  school,  but  will  keep  the  house  in  order  for  herself 
and  her  father  while  they  are  gone. 

"  Now,  mother,  maybe  you  would  like  to  know  what  your  boy  David 
is  doing.  Well  he  is  doing  odd  jobs  like  his  father  used  to  do.  I  feed 
three  cows  and  one  calf,  and  am  raising  the  finest  heifer  calf  that  I  think 
I  ever  owned.  I  also  feed  my  hogs ;  I  have  ten  shoats  and  five  others  to 
feed.  I  started  out  the  last  day  of  July  to  buy  cows,  and  was  forty-two 
days  with  one  man.     I  helped  him  to  buy  seventy-eight  and  to  ship  two 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  361 

car  loads,  forty  head  to  Radnor,  twelve  miles  this  side  of  Philadelphia. 
I  quit  him  then  for  one  of  my  New  Jersey  men  who  had  come  for  a  car 
load. 

"  I  got  him  twenty-one,  and  another  of  my  men  came  before  the  first 
one  got  away ;  they  live  six  miles  apart,  and  I  helped  him  ;  he  took 
twenty-four  head.  So  you  think  that  is  stirring  round  enough  for  a  boy 
nearly  seventy  years  old. 

"  Well  it  is  just  good  exercise  for  me  here  when  the  weather  is  good 
and  the  roads  good.  I  had  a  letter  a  few  days  ago  from  Robert,  and 
one  from  John.  Thomas,  I  suppose,  is  too  busy  with  the  History  of  the 
Sherrard  Family  to  write,  and  I  will  excuse  him. 

"  With  love  and  best  wishes  for  you,  I  am,  as  ever, 

"  Your  son, 
"  D.wiD  A.  C  Sherrard." 

ROBERT  TO    MOTHER. 

Steubenville,  Ohio,  December  13,  1889. 

Mrs.  Jane  Sherrard, 

"  My  Dear  Mother, — I  am  reminded  this  day  that  eight  years  ago 
to-day,  I  was  united  in  marriage  to  Katie  Johnson,  and  that  reminded 
me  of  the  fact  that  to-morrow,  the  14th  of  December,  1889,  you  will 
pass  your  eighty-fifth  mile-stone  in  this  life.  I  cannot  allow  the  occasion 
to  pass  by  without  writing  to  you,  not  so  much  to  apprise  you  of  the 
fact  that  this  is  your  eighty-fifth  birthday,  but  to  recount  some  of  the 
blessings  which  in  that  time,  by  the  goodness  of  an  all-wise  Providence, 
has  been  granted  to  some  of  us  by  reason  of  your  having  been  born,  and 
placed  in  a  position  whereby  your  precept,  example,  and  prudent  conduct 
as  a  mother,  have  brought  all  the  members  of  so  large  a  family  mentally 
and  spiritually  to  Christ. 

"  The  Bible  teaches  us  that  the  Eternal  never  selects  as  the  instru- 
ments of  his  will  any  of  those  whose  hearts  are  not  inclined  towards  Him. 
I  have  often  asked  myself  the  question :  Where  or  what  would  be  my 
position  in  life,  if  I  had  not  had,  when  young,  the  influence  of  such  a 
mother  ? 

"  And  while  I  know  that  many  times  I  was  the  means  of  testing  your  pa- 
tience and  your  trial  of  faith,  I  have  to  acknowledge  that  by  your  patience, 


362  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

devotion  and  zeal,  aided  as  you  were  by  the  influence  from  above,  which 
you  daily  sought  and  which  was  Hberally  granted,  you  did  overcome  the 
evil  tendencies  of  my  nature  ;  and  I  am  to-day  where  I  am  and  what  I 
am,  for  which  I  am  thankful  to  you  and  grateful  to  our  Heavenly  Father, 
because  of  the  care  you  were  ever  willing  to  bestow  upon  m.e. 

"  I  want  to  remind  you  of  another  fact,  which  I  have  often  referred  to 
with  my  older  brothers  and  sisters,  as  well  as  to  friends,  which  is,  that 
in  referring  back  to  the  time  when  you  came  into  the  family,  finding  a 
family  of  five  children  to  take  the  charge  of,  all  young,  to  grow  up  and 
mingle  with  seven  others  born  after  you  took  charge,  to  manage,  regu- 
late and  control,  required  a  special  gift  for  which  you  were  equal.  And 
I  have  now  to  say  that  at  no  time  or  place  can  I  refer,  when,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  discipline  which  j'ou  were  required  to  exercise,  was  there 
any  partiality  shown  for  one  more  than  another. 

"  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  acts  of  kindness  toward  me  person- 
ally ;  for  the  many  years  of  patience  you  were  called  to  endure,  and 
hope  that  in  the  great  day  when  He  who  has  given  you  so  long  a  life 
of  usefulness,  and  those  of  us  who  have  so  long  enjoyed  your  love  and 
favor,  meet,  as  I  trust  we  may  do  in  that  better  and  brighter  home 
above,  we  will  recount  the  pleasant  lives  we  have  enjoyed  on  earth,  and 
the  dangers  we  have  been  enabled  to  avoid  by  reason  of  the  unselfish 
acts  of  you  in  our  behalf. 

"  I  enclose  you,  as  a  slight  token  of  my  love  and  affection  for  you  as 
a  kind,  good  mother,  a  small  remembrance,  and  hope  that  you  will  be 
spared  in  good  health,  with  your  reason  and  faculties  in  place,  until  the 
time  when  it  is  the  Master's  will  to  summon  you  to  come  tip  higher, 
and  this  will  be  my  constant  prayer. 

"  I  remain,  as  ever, 

"  Your  affectionate  son,  Robert  Sherrard,  Jr." 

IV.   SHERRARD  ANTIQUITIES. 

While  looking  over  some  of  father's  old  MS.  volumes,  the  spring  of 
1889,  I  found  an  old  letter  in  the  original  handwriting  of  one  James 
Usher,  of  New  York  City.  It  was  written  to  father  in  1872  in  relation 
to    certain    Sherrard    relics    and    antiquities  then   in  possession   of  the 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  363 

writer.  I  had  never  heard  of  this  letter  before,  nor  did  any  member  of  our 
family  remember  anything  about  it,  and  we  do  not  know  whether  father 
ever  replied  to  it  or  not.  The  letter  mentions  so  many  curious  things 
about  the  Sherrard  name  that  I  immediately  wrote  to  the  address  in 
New  York,  and  received  the  following  reply  : 

"New  York,  April  i6,  1889. 
"  The  letter  to  which  you  refer  was  evidently  written  by  my  deceased 
father.     His  library  and  effects  have  since  been  disposed  of 

"  Yours,  &c.,  James  Usher." 

A  month  later  I  was  in  New  York  at  the  General  Assembly,  and  I 
called  to  see  this  James  Usher  at  his  office,  and  learned  from  him  that 
his  father  had  been  a  real-estate  dealer,  but  had  always  taken  an  interest 
in  collecting  family  genealogies  and  relics.  These  Sherrard  antiquities 
had  been  sold  among  his  other  effects,  and  the  son  could  find  no  trace 
whatever  of  them. 

These  Ushers  had  no  connection  at  all  with  the  Sherrards ;  but  the 
father  had  collected  these,  with  those  of  many  other  families,  simply  as 
a  matter  of  interest  and  pastime  to  him.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  his 
letter  to  father : 

JAMES  USHER  TO  ROBERT  A.  SHERRARD. 

"  7  Murray  St.,  New  York  City, 
"  Dec.  23,  1872. 
"  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  Esq., 

"  Steubenville,  Ohio. 
"  Dear  Sir :  I  take  the  liberty  to  write  to  you  about  a  collection  of 
antiquities  relating  to  the  Sherrard  family,  which  may  possibly  interest 
you  somewhat.  I  was  showing  them,  or  rather  part  of  them,  to  your 
son  in  this  city,  and  he  was  so  kind  as  to  give  me  your  address,  and  in 
writing  to  you  respecting  them,  I  believe  it  is  with  his  approval.  The 
collection  consists  of  four  pieces,  and  I  will  endeavor  to  explain  and 
describe  the  same  faithfully. 

"  I.  A  Coat  of  Arms  very  handsomely  drawn  and  colored,  showing 
motto,  coat,  crest,  supporters,  and  done  at  the  expense  of  Bennet  Sher- 
rard, who  was  born  in  1709;  done  about  1760;  framed  in  black  walnut 


364  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

and  gilt;  size  of  all,  about  i8   inches  by  24  outside  measurement.     In 
fine  order,  high  as  a  work  of  art,  and  in  all  respects  reliable. 

"  II.  A  pedigree  in  tabular  form,  on  a  roll  a  little  over  three  feet  long 
by  one  broad,  tracing  the  family  back  to  the  Robert,  whose  father  came 
over  with  William  of  Normandy. 

"The  last  date  given  is  1750,  with  an  additional  line  showing  the 
Irish  and  Scotch  branches,  done  in  1760  or  thereabout,  showing  the 
water-mark  of  George  II.,  and  in  fine  order. 

"III.  An  engraving  mounted  on  a  board  about  12  inches  by  18, 
showing  the  tomb  and  effigies  of  Geoffry  and  jean  Sherrard  1490,  with 
the  various  quarterings  and  arms  of  allied  lines  round  the  border;  in 
fine  order  and  unframed. 

"  IV.  A  similar  one  to  the  above,  with  15  effigies  thereon  purporting 
to  be  the  ancestors  of  the  Sherrard  family,  and  possibly  done  at  or 
about  the  same  date  as  the  three  preceding.  This  collection  which  I 
honestly  believe  to  be  unique,  at  least  in  this  form,  I  will  dispose  of 
for  $25. 

"  In  addition  to  the  above  there  is  a  printed  history  of  not  many 
leaves,  with  some  other  illustrations  which  will  go  with  the  above  with- 
out any  extra  charge. 

"  I  remain,  respectfully  yours,  "James  Usher." 

V.  IRVINE  ANTIQUITIES. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  old  letter  in  possession  of  Mr.  John  Irvine 
Anderson,  of  New  York,  which  he  has  kindly  sent  for  my  perusal.  It 
is  in  the  handwriting  of  his  great-grandfather,  John  Irvine,  and  was 
given  him  by  his  aunt  Nancy  Irvine,  of  Louisville,  the  only  living  child 
of  James  Irvine,  who  was  the  eldest  child  of  John  Irvine. 

See  The  Gamble  Records.  In  reading  this  letter  it  will  be  readily 
appreciated  that  the  term  "  bold  jade,"  which  the  father  uses  in  speaking 
to  his  youngest  child,  is  meant  to  be  one  of  endearment,  when  it  is 
known  that  Betty  was  at  this  time  only  thirteen  years  old,  and  was  only 
eight  when  she  parted  from  her  father  in  Ireland.  She  married  her 
second  cousin,  my  uncle,  David  A.  C.  Sherrard,  and  is  spoken  of  on  pp. 
118  and  377  of  this  volume. 


FA.)riLy  LETTERS. 


The  form  of  writing  in  this  old  letter  is  preserved  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble.    It  is  addressed  to  "  Miss  Peggy  and  Miss  Betty  Irvine." 


JOHN   IRVINE   TO   HIS   DAUGHTERS,    PEGGY    AND   BETSY. 

"  Clabbv  P'July  1799. 

"  D"  Girls  : 

"  Whilst  I  am  taking  the  opportunity  of  writing  to  the  Rest,  I 
send  you  a  few  lines  letting  you  know  that  I  am  in  good  health  at 
present  thank  God.  I  never  got  a  word  from  any  of  you,  since  you 
parted  with  me,  only  what  Frank  Johnston  mentioned  of  you  always  in 
his  letters.  I  rec''  letters  from  Jenny,  Alick,  and  Baptist,  which  gives 
me  great  comfort  to  hear  of  your  all  being  well,  and  Jenny  mentions 
Baptist  and  Betty  growing  very  Big.  lam  glad  to  hear  of  Jenny's 
being  married  to  her  satisfaction,  and  that  the  Boys  is  at  some  sort  of 
Business,  but  I  hope  that  they  will  fall  into  something  Else  soon,  that 
will  be  more  Beneficial,  as  for  yourselves,  I  hope  that  you  will  take  care 
and  pray  to  God  to  guide  you,  and  I  hope  and  trust  that  you  will  Do 
well,  and  that  you  will  put  your  full  trust  in  providence.  O  Betty  you 
Bold  Jade  will  you  not  write  to  me,  it  wou'd  give  great  satisfaction  if 
you  wou'd,  for  I  am  lonely,  and  has  no  Body  to  Comfort  me,  or  to 
make  my  moan  to — for  it  seems  that  none  of  you  Encourages  me  to  go 
to  you,  if  providence  grants  me  Days  perhaps  I  may  be  with  you  yet. — 
all  friends  is  well  only  your  Aunt  [name  illegible)  Died  Beginning  of 
Last  Winter,  for  more  particulars  I  refer  you  to  Jimmy's  and  the  Rests 
letters.  I  expect  that  you  will  Study  amongst  you  how  to  forward 
letters  and  don't  neglect  it. 

"  Whilst  I  Remain  Your  Loving  and 

"  Disconsolate  Father  till  Death, 

"John  Irvine." 

There  is  another  old  manuscript  letter  in  possession  of  Mr.  Anderson, 
from  Baptist  Irvine  to  his  brother-in-law,  Robert  Davis.  This  letter  is 
dated  at  Baltimore,  September  21,  1 812,  and  it  is  valuable  as  suggesting 
the  time  of  the  death  of  his  father,  John  Irvine.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  that  letter  : 


366  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

"Tell  Peggy  I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Joseph  Dunlap,  of 
Corrylongford,  giving  an  account  of  my  father's  affairs  and  death. 
There  are  some  rents  due  from  tenants  in  Clabby,  and  40  pounds  a  year 
is  the  rent.  He  had  spoken  to  Lord  Belmore,  the  landlord,  relative  to 
the  lease,  and  informed  him  that  two  lives  of  it  were  still  in  existence, 
viz.,  Edward  and  John  Irvine,  now  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  New  I-ancaster. 
These  things  Mr.  Dunlap  mentioned  for  our  guidance,  as  nothing  could 
be  done  without  our  consent  and  authority." 

There  is  another  ancient  document  of  date  January  8,  1799,  making 
mention  of  the  children  of  John  Irvine  as  the  legatees  of  Doctor  Wil- 
liam Irvine,  of  Lynchburg,  deceased ;  and  another  ancient  manuscript 
giving  an  inventory  of  the  wearing  apparel  of  the  said  William  Irvine, 
which  is  certainly  a  curiosity,  to  note  the  ample  supply  of  personal 
apparel  of  a  Virginia  gentleman  of  a  century  ago.  In  this  collection  of 
ancient  documents  is  also  found  the  Certificate  of  Naturalization  of  James 
Irvine,  the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Anderson. 


III.  FAMILY   RECORDS. 


Explanatory  Terms. — The  small  Arabic  figures  after  any  name  show  the  number  of  the 
generation ;  the  large  Roman  numerals  are  placed  before  any  name  whose  Record  is  given  in 
detail.  At  the  place  where  such  a  name  first  appears  it  is  preceded  by  an  Arabic  number,  to 
indicate  that  the  Record  of  that  name  will  be  given  more  fully  under  the  corresponding  Roman 
numerals. 

Abbreviations. — b.,  born;  m.,  married;  unm.,  unmarried;  s.  p.,  without  issue;  d.,  died ; 
d.  s.  p.,  died  without  issue. 


I.     THE  SHERRARD   RECORDS. 

WE  have  information  of  a  Coat  of  Arms,  and  a  Pedigree  in  tabular 
form,  in  existence  in  1872,  tracing  the  Sherrard  Family  back 
to  the  Robert  whose  father  came  over  with  William,  Duke  of 
Normandy.  Tradition  in  our  own  immediate  Family  traces  our  an- 
cestry back  to  a  Sherrard  who  was  a  French  Huguenot,  who  came  over 
and  settled  in  Scotland.  The  earliest  authentic  names  we  have  are  those 
of  two  brothers,  Hugh  and  \\'illiam  Sherrard,  whose  father  came  over 
from  Scotland  about  1710,  and  settled  in  Newton  Limavady,  County  of 
Londonderry,  Ireland.  Here  Hugh  and  William  were  born,  and  when 
Hugh  arrived  at  manhood  he  married  and  settled  across  the  Bann  Water, 
near  Coleraine.  He  had  a  son,  Hugh  Sherrard,  who  emigrated  to 
America  in  1770,  and  settled  on  Miller's  Run,  in  Washington  County, 
Pa.  They  were  very  seriously  annoyed  by  the  Indians  previous  to 
Wayne's  Treaty,  in  1794.  It  was  at  the  house  of  this  cousin  Hugh  that 
grandfather,  John  Sherrard,  stopped  for  a  few  days  as  he  was  on  his 
return  from  Crawford's  Campaign.  This  Hugh  Sherrard  had  several 
sons,  one  of  whom,  William,  lived  over  on  Raccoon  Creek,  near  Flo- 
rence, and  was  killed  by  the  Indians. 

367 


368  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

1.  William  Sherrard/  b.  1720,  in  Newton  Limavady,  Ireland;  m. 
in  1750,  Margaret  Johnston  ;  lived  near  Newton  Limavady,  on  a  free- 
hold farm,  and  besides  farming,  carried  on  the  business  of  linen  weaving 
employing  a  number  of  hands,  and  d.,  wealthy,  in  177 1.  They  had 
issue : — 

2.  i.  John  Sherrard,  b.  1750;  ni.  Mar)-  Cathcart. 

ii.  Elizabeth  Sherrard,  b.  1752;  m.  Mr.  McConkey  ;  emigrated  to  America; 

nothing  more  known  of  them, 
iii.  Margaret  Sherrard, \>.  1755  ;  m.,  and  emigrated  to  America  ;  nothing  more 

known, 
iv,  James  Slierrard,  b.  1757  ;  m.;  by  his  father's  will,  remained  in  possession 

of  the  freehold  lease  in  Ireland.     In   1785  he  visited  America  with  his 

mother,  but  they  both  returned  to  Ireland,  and  nothing  more  is  known 

of  either  of  them ;  tradition  says  that  he  came  again  to  America  after 

the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1798. 
V.  A/arv  (?)  Sherrard,  b.  1760;  Christian  name  unknown;  m.,  and  came  to 

America,  but  nothing  more  known. 

II.  John  Sherrard-  (William'),  b.  1750;  emigrated  to  America  1772; 
naturalized  December  29th,  1777;  m.,  May  5th,  1784,  Mary  Cathcart 
(b.  Sept.  2Sth,  175  I  ;  d.  Oct.  27th',  1833);  d.  April  22d,  1809;  buried  at 
Smithfield,  O.     They  had  issue  : — 

i.    William  Johnston,  b.  May  7th,  1785;  d.  Nov.  7th,  1820;  unm. 
ii.  David  Alexander  Catheart,  b.  Sept.  2d,  1786;  m.,  first,  March  14th,  1816, 
Elizabeth   Irvine  (b.    1786;  d.  June   19th,  1855);  secondly,  Feb.    13th, 
1858,  Martha  Watt);  d.  June  2,  1880;  no  issue. 

3.  iii.  John  James,  b.  Oct.  28th,  1787  ;  m.  Sarah  Harrah. 

4.  iv.  Robert  Andrew,  b.  May  4,  1789;  m.,  first,  Mary  Kithcart;  secondly,  Jane 

Hindman. 
V.  Ann,  b.  Dec.  6th,  1790;  d.  in  infancy. 

5.  vi.    Thomas  Giithridge,  b.  March  i8th,  1793;  m.  Rebecca  Conn. 

III.  John  James  Sherrard'  (John,^  William'),  b.  Oct.  28th,  1787; 
m.,  Sept.  8th,  1825,  Sarah  Harrah,  who  d.  Sept.  27th,  1861 ;  d.  July  14th, 
1 860.     They  had  issue : — 

i.  William,  m.,  Jan.  5th,  1852,  Margaret  Jane  Neal ;  removed  to  Iowa  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  and  nothing  now  known  of  them.  They  had 
issue. 

ii.  James,  d.  April  15th,  1851  ;  unm. 


FAMIL  Y  RECORDS.  ■  369 

IV.  RoBE,RT  Andrew  Sherrard''  (John,-  William'),  b.  May  4th,  1789; 
Jn^'d'sCf/ji.  25th,  1816,  Mary  Kithcart  (b.  Jan.  4th,  1798;  d.  July  31st, 

1823).     They  had  issue  : — 

6.  i.  Afary  Anne,  b.  March  26th,  1817  ;  m.  Joseph  W.  Hill. 

ii.  Joseph  Kithem-t,  b.  Aug.  nth,  181 8;  d.  ,\pril  9th,  1884;  unm. 

7.  iii.  David  Cathcart,   b.  Jan.    loth,    1820;  m.,  first,  Catherine  M.  Welday  ; 

secondly,  Narcissa  T.  Grant. 

8.  iv.  Elizabeth,  b.  Sept.  23d,  1821  ;  m.  Joseph  Kithcart. 

9.  V.  7J()(5£-r/,  b.  June  gth,  1823;  m.,  first,  Sarah  Anne  Salmon  ;  secondly,  Cath- 

erine Johnson. 

Robert  Andrew  Sherrard  m.,  secondly',  May  24th,  1827,  Jane  Hindman 
(b.  Dec.  14th,  1804).     They  had  issue: — 

vi.  Nancy,  b.  April   loth,  1828  ;  Principal  of  Washington  Female  Seminary, 
Washington,  Pa  ;  unm. 

10.  vii.  John  Hindman,  b.  March  24th,  1830;  m.  Kezia  N.  Fulton, 
viii.  Jane,  b.  March  22d,  1832;  unm. 

11.  ix.  Susan  Catlicart,  b.  July  31st,  1834;  m.  Culbertson  Orr. 

X.  Sarah,  b.  Jan.  8th,  1837  ;  d.  March  4,  1889;  unm. 
xi.    William  Henry  Harrison,  b.  Feb.  12,  1840;  d.  Aug.  l8th,  1875;  unm. 

12.  xii.    Thomas  Johnson,  b.  Feb.  25th,  1845;  m.  Mary  R.  Campbell. 

V.  Thomas  Guthridge  Sherrard^  (John,- William'),  b.  March  i8th, 
1793;  m.  Sept.  20th,  1820,  Rebecca  Conn  (who,  after  her  husband's 
death,  m.,  secondly,  in  1834,  Samuel  Junk,  of  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  and 
they  had  issue — surname  Junk;  she  d.  Oct.  13th,  1873);  d.  March  26th, 
1823.     They  had  issue  : — 

i.    William  Johnston,  b.  October,  1822;  m. ;  d.  without  issue,  April  22d,  1872. 

13.  ii.    Thomas  Guthridge,  b.  Oct.  17th,  1S24;  m.  Mary  .^^nn  Henderson. 

VI.  Mary  Anne  Sherrard^  (Robert  A.,'  John,-  William'),  b  at  Rush 
Run,  O.,  March  26th,  1817;  m.,  Oct.  lOth,  1848,  Joseph  Welsh  Hill  (b. 
June  iith,  iSii  ;  d.  Feb.  22d,  1877).     They  had  issue  (surname  Hill): — 

i.  Rosamond  C. 
ii.  Elizabeth  Jane. 

iii.  Martha  Sharon  ,-  m.,  June    12th,  1879,  Rev.  David  R.  Kerr.     They  have 
issue  (surname   Kerr) ;     Willis   Holmes,   James   Frederic,  Mary   Hill, 
David  R.,  and  Julia  C. 
iv.  Mary :  m.,  Oct.  14,  18S0,  Jesse  Bennett. 
24 


:570  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

V.   Robert  Slicrrard :  ni.,  June  30th,   1885,   Mary  Mears,     They  have  issue 
(surname  Hill);  Henrietta  Menager,  Mary  Sherrard,  and  Nannie  Mears. 

VII.  David  Cathcart  Sherrard*  (Robert  A.,' John,-  William'),  b. 
at  Rush  Run,  O.,  Jan.  lOth,  1820 ;  m.,  first,  July  4th,  1843,  Catherine  M. 
W'elday.     Farmer,  Fremont,  O.     They  had  issue: — 

i.  Laura  A.,  m.  Benjamin  Mooney.     They  have  issue  (surname  Mooney)  ; 

Lottie  S.,  Emma,  Mary  A.,  and  Nettie. 
ii.  Ki'zia  IV.,  m.  Homer  Overmyer.     They  have  issue  (surname  Overmyer) : 

Dora ;  m.  J.  Biddle. 
iii.  Elizabt-th  C ,  m.  John  S.  Brust.     They  have  issue  (surname  Brust) :   Ida. 

David  Cathcart  Sherrard  m.,  secondly,  Feb.  24th,  1848,  Narcissa  T. 
Grant.     They  have  issue;  — 

iv.  Harriet  B.,  m.  Charles  E.  Tindall ;  she  d.  Sept,  i6th,  1873.     They  had 

issue  (surname  Tindall)  :    Hattie. 
V.  Robert  W.,  m.  Clara  A.  Karshner.     They  have  issue  :    Blanche  M.,  and 

Zella. 
vi.  John  F.,  m.  Jennie  E.  Bowlus.      They  have   issue  :     Harry,  Ida,  Robert, 

and  Zelpha. 
vii.  Emma  V.,  m.  Josiah  Smith.     They  have  issue  (surname  Smith)  ;    Milan, 

Robert,  Jesse,  Howard,  Orie,  Lulu  and  Granvil. 
viii.  Mary  J.,  m.  David  W.  Cookson.     They  have  issue  (surname  Cookson)  : 

Clarence. 
ix.  Rose  T.,  m.  John  R.  Tindall.     They  have  issue  (surname  Tindall) ;  Mabel 
and  Louis. 
X.   Ida  M. 

VIII.  Elizabeth  Sherrard*  (Robert  A./  John,"  William*),  b.  at  Rush 
Run,  O  ,  Sept.  23d,  1821  ;  m.,  May  7th,  1846,  Joseph  Kithcart  (b.  Oct. 
13th,  1823).  They  have  issue  (surname  Kithcart).  See  The  Kithcart 
Records. 

IX.  Robert  Sherrard*  (Robert  A.,^  John,-  WilHam'),  born  at  Rush 
Run,  O.,  June  9th,  1823;  m.,  first,  July  2d,  1846,  Sarah  Anne  Salmon, 
who  d.  Nov.  7th,  1870.     Banker  in  Steubenville,  O.     They  had  issue: — 

i.   Emma  Virginia,  b.  April  2d,  1847  ;  m  ,  Dec.  3d.  1868,  Henry  Clay  Elliot, 
of  New  York.     They  have  issue  (surname  Elliot):     Robert  Sherrard, 
Lillie  Beatty,  and  Harry  Stanton. 
ii.    William,  b.  July  22d,  1850;  d.  in  infancy, 
iii.  Henry  Comingo,  b.  Aug.  25th,  1857. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  371 

Robert  Sherrard  m.,  secondly,  Dec.  13th,  1881,  Catherine  Johnson. 
They  have  issue  : — 

iv.    Thomas  Johmon,  b.  Sept.  17th,  1882. 
V.  Robert  Stanton,  b.  March  24th,  1S84;  d   Aug.  5th,  1889. 
vi.  Mary  Catherine,  b.  Aug.  23d,  1887. 

X.  John  Hindman  Sherrard*  (Robert  A.,'  John,"  William'),  b.  at 
Pleasant  Hill,  O.,  March  24th,  1830;  m..  Oct.  13th,  1857,  Kezia  N. 
Fulton.     Presbyterian  minister,  Rockville,  Ind.     They  have  issue: — 

i.  Jane  Hindman,  b.  July  17th,  1858;  m.,  June  24th,  1879,  ^^^-  ]■  C.  Rhea 
Ewing,  D.D.,  now  of  Lahore,  India.     They  went  to  India,  as  mission- 
aries, in  October,  1879.     They  have  issue  (surname  Ewing):     Eleanor 
Elizabeth,  Anna  Kezia,  John  Sherrard,  and  Margaret  Rhea, 
ii.  Anna  Rachel,  b.  July  13th,  i860;  m.,  May  i8th,  1881,  Oliver  L.  Blachly, 
M.D.,  of  Sparta,  Pa  ,     They  have  issue  (surname  Blachly):     Stephen 
Lindley,  and  John  Sherrard. 
iii.   Charles  Beatty,  b.  Feb.  2d,  J864;  d.  July  6th,  1866. 
iv.  Johrt  Hughes,  b.  May  19th,  1866. 
V.  Robert  Maurice,  b.  Oct.  1st,  1869. 
vi.  Mary  Fulton,  b.  July  i8th,  1871. 
vii.  Elizabeth  Linn,  b.  Feb.  25th,  1874. 
viii.  Helen  Ewing,  b.  July  27th,  1879. 

XI.  Susan  Cathcart  Sherrard*  (Robert  A.,'  John,^  William'),  b.  at 
Sugar  Hill,  near  Steubenville,  O.,  July  31st,  1834;  m.,  Nov.  7th,  1866, 
Culbertson  Orr,  of  Clarion  Co.,  Pa.      They  have  issue  (surname  Orr) : — 

i.  Robert  Sherrard,  b.  Oct.  14th,  1867. 
ii.    William  Culbertson ,  b.  March  12th,  1869. 
iii.  Henry  Franklin,  b.  April  20th,  1871. 
iv.   George  Thomas,  b.  Aug.  7th.  1S73;  d.  May  22d,  1874. 
V.  Jane  Hindman,  b.  May  2d,  1875. 

XII.  Thomas  Johnson  Sherrard*  (Robert  A,''  John,-  William'),  b. 
at  Sugar  Hill,  near  Steubenville,  O.,  Feb.  25th,  1845  ;  m.,  Dec.  21,  1871, 
Mary  R.  Campbell.  Presbyterian  minister,  Washington,  Pa.  They  have 
issue  : — 

i.    Virginia,  b.  in  Mifflintown.  Pa.,  June  4th,  1873. 
ii.  Hallock  Campbell,  b.  in  Mifflintown,  Pa.,  June  22d,  1875. 
iii.  Mary  Campbell,  b.  in  Mifflintown,  Pa.,  Aug.  30th,  1879. 
iv.  Robert  Andrtw,  b.  in  Honey  Brook,  Pa.,  July  30th,  1885. 


372  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

XIII.  Thomas  Guthridge  Sherrard*  (Thomas  G.,^  John,"  William'), 
b.  Oct.  17th,  1824;  m.,  May  9th,  1850,  Mary  Ann  Henderson;  d.  March 
22d,  1874.     They  had  issue: — 

i  Daviii  Catlicart,  b.  March  12th,  1851  ;  m  ,  Dec.  3d,  1874;  Mary  Jane 
Hankins,  who  d.  April  12th,  1885  ;  d.  at  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  Nov.  25th, 
1881.  They  had  issue:  Rachel,  Thomas  Gutherie,  and  Mary  Ann. 
ii.  Alexander  Conn,  b.  Dec.  28th,  1852;  m.,  Aug.  26th,  1875,  Ehzabeth 
Cooper  Pollock.  They  have  issue :  Margaret  Jane,  Thomas  Gutherie 
(d.  in  infancy),  David  Pollock  (d.  in  infancy),  Mary  Ann,  John  Core, 
William  Johnson,  James  Espey,  and  Jacob  Henderson. 

iii.  Rebecca  Ann,  b.  Jan.  15th,  1855  :  d.  Dec.  i  ith,  1870. 

iv.  Nancy,  b.  Jan.  23d,  1857;  m.,  Oct.  loth,  1878,  Peter  Preston  Humbert. 
They  have  issue  (surname  Humbert):  Thomas  Sherrard,  Martha  Jane 
Joseph  Arthur,  and  Elsie  May. 
V.    Williant  Johnson,  b.  Jan.  7th,  i860. 

vi.  Martha  Jane,  b.  June  26th.    1862;  m..  May  4th,   1882,  Gutherie  Wilson 
Curry;  d.  Dec.  28th,  1883. 

vii.  Jacob  Henderson,  b.  Jan.  17th,  1S65  ;   d.  July  17th,  1883. 


IT.     THE   GAMBLE   RECORDS. 

The  connection  of  the  Sherrards  with  the  Gambles  is  through  Ann 
Gamble,  whose  daughter,  Mary  Cathcart,  was  the  mother  of  Robert 
Andrew  Sherrard,  of  Steubenville. 

The  Family  Records  of  my  father,  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard,  trace  the 
Gamble  connections  back  only  as  far  as  David  Gamble  of  Graan,  near 
Enniskillen,  but  they  do  not  give  the  date  of  his  birth.  From  the 
"  Records  of  the  Gambles  of  Toronto,"  published  in  1872, 1  have  learned 
the  date  of  his  birth,  and  the  additional  information  that  his  father's 
name  was  Solomon,  who  was  the  son  of  Josias;  also,  that  tradition  traces 
the  Gamble  Family  back  to  that  of  Lord  Eglington,  and  affirms  that  the 
Gambles  are  entitled  to  estates  in  Ayrshire. 

I.  Josias  Gamble,'  the  first  of  the  name  of  whom  the  family  now 
have  any  record ;  he  was  married,  and  had  issue,  of  whom  mention  is 
made  of  his  eldest  son  only. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  373 

II.  Solomon  Gamble"  (Josias') ;  he  was  married  and  had  issue;  the 
name  of  his  eldest  son  only  is  mentioned. 

III.  David  Gamble,'  of  Graan  (Solomon,-  Josias'),  b.  1682,  near  En- 
niskillen,  County  Fermanagh,  Ireland,  on  the  old  homestead,  called 
Graan;  there  he  died,  but  at  what  period  we  have  no  information.  He 
was  married,  but  we  have  no  information  concerning  his  wife,  except  that 
from  an  old  letter  in  my  possession,  it  appears  that  she  was  still  living 
in  1772.     David  Gamble,  of  Graan,  had  issue: — 

4.  i.   Baptist,  of  Graan,  b.  1720. 

5.  ii.  Ann,  b.  March  28th,  1721  ;  m   Captain  Alexander  Cathcart. 

6.  iii.   David,  of  Ratonagh  ;  m.  twice. 

7.  iv.  Magdalen  (?) ;  m.  Mr.  Hughes. 

8.  V.    William,  of  Duross ;  m.  Leah  Tyrer. 

9.  vi.  Andrew,  of  Chester  County,  Pa. 

IV.  Baptist  Gamble,''  of  Graan  (David,''  Solomon,"  Josias'),  b.  1720; 
d.  1810,  of  paralysis;  m.  Miss  Hopper,  of  Crew,  Monaghan.  They  had 
issue : — 

i.  Anti,  m.  James  Frith  of  the  Cross, 
ii.  Sarah,  m.  her  cousin,  William  Gamble,  second  son  of  William  of  Duross 

iii,  Mary  Rebecca,  m.  Scott,  of  Farmhill. 

iv.  Jane,  m.  Montgomery,  of  Ashbrook. 

V.  Elizabeth,  unm. 

vi.  Samuel,  of  Graan,  b.  1765  ;  m.  Mary  Gamble,  dau.  of  Moses,  of  Bal- 
laghmore.  This  marriage  is  mentioned  in  our  old  Irish  letters,  but 
there  is  in  them  no  explanation  of  the  ancestry  of  Moses.  It  is  stated 
in  the  "Family  Records  of  the  Gambles  of  Toronto"  that  this  Moses 
was  the  son  of  Josias,  who  was  the  son  of  David  gf  Graan,  but  when 
David's  children  are  given,  no  mention  is  made  of  a  son  Josias.  and  in 
all  our  knowledge  of  the  Gamble  ancestry,  we  have  no  hint  that  our 
great-grandmother,  Ann  Gamble,  had  any  brother  Josias.  This  Samuel, 
son  of  Baptist,  had  two  sons  ;  Baptist,  of  Graan,  b.  1809,  and  Samuel, 
b.  1815. 

V.  Ann  Gamble,' of  Graan,  (David,' Solomon,^  Josias,')  b.,  March  28, 
1721;  d.,  Nov.  20,  1813;  m.,  March  17,  1743,  Captain  Alexander 
Cathcart,  (b.,  1715  ;  d.,  April  15,  1780;.  They  had  issue:  see  the  Cath- 
cart Records,  The  Sherrard  Records  (Mary  Cathcart,^  Robert  A.  Sher- 
rard,"  Thomas  J.  Sherrard,''  Hallock  C.  Sherrard.**) 


374  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

VI.  David  Gamble/  of  Ratonagh,  (David/  Solomon,^  Josias,')  m., 
twice,  and  had  issue  : 

10.  i.   George,  b.  1772. 

11.  ii.    Witliain.h.  1774;  m.  Jane  Douglass. 

iii.  Baptist,  h.  1776;  unm. ;  d.  1857  in  Armagh. 

iv.  Josias  Christopher,  b.  1778  ;  m.  Hannah   Gower,  and  had   issue  :    David 
and  Jane.     He  is  mentioned  in  the  old  Irish  letters  as  being  very  suc- 
cessful in  the  chemical  business  in  Dublin. 
V.  Mary  Anne,  h.  1778;  m.  Captain  Ball,  of  Rathmines  ;  lived  near  Dublin, 
vi.  J(unes ;  came  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  1810. 

VII.  Magdalen  (?)  Gamble,^  (David,^  Solomon,-  Josias,')  m.,  Mr. 
Hughes;  d.,  of  paralysis.  All  that  we  know  of  her  and  her  family  is 
gathered  from  old  letters.     They  had  issue  (surnamed  Hughes) : 

i.  James  ;  came  over  from  Ireland  previous  to  1797  ;  lived  in   Philadelphia, 
and  was  a  school  teacher  there  for  many  years  ;  often  visited  his  uncle 
Andrew  Gamble  out  in  Chester  Co.,  Pa. ;  was  still  living  in  Philadelphia 
in  1828. 
ii.  Jane,  m.  first,  Mr.  Henderson  ;  secondly,  John  Thompson  of  Philadelphia, 
iii.  Margaret ;  remamed  in  Ireland, 
iv.  Francis  ;  remained  in  Ireland. 
V.  Magdalen  ;  lived  in  Philadelphia. 

VIII.  William  Gamble,*  of  Duross,  (David,'  Solomon,^  Josias,')  m. 
Leah  Tyrer,  dau.  of  Mary  Bodle  Tyrer,  and  niece  of  Elizabeth  Bodle 
Cox,  (who  had  one  son,  John  Cox,  who  d.  unmarried). 

We  have  an  old  Irish  letter  that  tells  how  this  William  Gamble's 
estate  is  doubled  by  means  of  a  legacy  from  Mrs.  Cox  of  Dublin.  He 
was  still  living  in  Ireland  in  181 2.      They  had  issue: 

12.  i.  John,  b.  1755  ;  m.  Isabella  Elizabeth  Clarke, 
ii.  David,  m.  Elizabeth  Frith. 

iii.  Ann,  m.  Michael  Humphries. 

iv.    / f ////<!«/,  m.  first,  his  cousin   Sarah,  dau.  of   Baptist  Gamble  of   Graan  ; 
secondly.  Miss  Frith  of  Derryargan. 

13.  V.  Nancy  Rachel,  m.  John  Irvine. 
vi.  Sarah,  m.  James  Henderson. 

vii.  Magdalen,  m.  James  Rutledg.e. 
viii.  Samuel. 
i.\.  Jane,  m.  Christopher  .'Armstrong. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  375 

X.  Mary,  m.  Edward  Brien. 
xi.  Leah. 
xii.   Tyrer. 

IX.  Andrew  Gamble,*  of  Chester  Co.,  Pa.,  (David,^  Solomon,^  Josias,') 
b.  at  Graan  in  Ireland ;  emigrated  to  America  1765  ;  settled  on  a  farm  of 
400  acres,  called  Thunder  Hill,  two  miles  from  New  London,  Chester 
Co.,  Pa. ;  m.,  but  name  of  wife  unknown  ;  d.  Feb.  9,  181 2  of  paralysis. 
They  had  issue : 

i.  Agnes  Magdalen,  m.  Mr.  Hill;  d.  without  issue, 
ii.  David  ;  lived  for  a  time  in  America,  but  went  to  Ireland,  and  d.  there. 

iii.  John,  called  Major  John  ;  very  large  and  tall,  and  of  commanding  pres- 
ence ;  m.  Mrs.  Mackey  ;  one  child,  but  it  d.  in  infancy.  Major  John 
Gamble  succeeded  to  his  father's  farm,  and  d.  1830. 

iv.  Mary,  m.  Alexander  Conn.  They  had  issue  (surname  Conn)  :  Rebecca, 
who  m.  her  second  cousin,  Thomas  G.  Sherrard,  (see  The  Sherrard 
Records) ;   Mary  ;    Margaret ;  and  Sarah. 

V.  Margaret,  m.  1780,  Thomas  Graham,  (who  was  b.  1747  in  County  Tyrone, 
Ireland  ;  emigrated  to  America  and  served  a  term  of  five  years  as  a 
Revolutionary  soldier,  and  d.  1825  near  Holliday's  Cove)  ;  d.  1806. 
They  had  issue  (surname  Graham)  :  David,  who  was  brought  up  by  his 
uncle  Andrew  Gamble  in  Chester  County,  and  was  killed  in  the  war  of 
1812;  George;  Polly;  Thomas;  Sarah;  and  Rebecca. 

vi.  Phcebe,  unm.  d.  1849  at  90  years  of  age. 

vii.  Leah,  m.  John  Whitcraft.  They  had  issue  (surname  Whitcraft) :  Andrew, 
John,  David,  and  Phoebe,  who  m.  John  Brogan.  The  Brogans  live  five 
miles  west  of  Medina,  O.,  and  have  seven  children. 

X.  George  Gamble,'  (David,*  David,^  Solomon,-  Josias,')  b.  1782; 
emigrated  to  America;  m.,  and  had  issue  : — 

i.  James,  of  Cincinnati ;  m.  and  had  issue  ;  Mary,  James,  Norris,  George, 
Olivia,  William,  David  B.,  and  Elliott.  David  B.  is  of  the  firm  of 
Proctor  &  Gamble,  of  Cincinnati,  and  is  an  Elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Avondale.  He  is  m.  and  has  issue  :  Edwin  and  Lillie.  To 
Mr.  David  B.  Gamble,  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  the  loan  of  his  cop\ 
of  the  "  Family  Records  of  the  Gambles  of  Toronto.  " 
ii.  Media,  of  Delaware,  O. 
iii.  Eliza  Riser. 

XI.  William  Gamble,' (David,*  David,' Solomon,- Josias'),  b.  1774; 
d.  1849;  came  to  America,  Sept.,  1797;  lived  for  a   time  with   his   uncle 


376  THE  SHERRARD   EAMILY. 

Andrew  Gamble,  in  Chester  County ;  afterwards  had  a  position  in  Phila- 
delphia;  returned  to  Ireland,  May,  1802  ;  engaged  largely  in  the  queens- 
ware  business  in  Belfast;  m.  1 810,  Jane  Douglass.  We  have  copies  of 
three  letters,  written  by  him  while  in  this  country,  to  his  cousin,  David 
Cathcart,  of  Fayette  County,  and  many  of  the  items  of  information  we 
have  concerning  our  Irish  relatives,  come  through  letters  mentioned  as 
written  by  him  to  his  cousin  and  intimate  friend,  James  Hughes,  of 
Philadelphia.  A  letter  written  by  James  Hughes  to  David  Cathcart  in 
1810,  mentions  that  "  William  Gamble,  uncle  David's  son,  is  married  to 
Miss  Jane  Douglass,  daughter  of  a  merchant  in  Belfast."  They  had 
issue: — Marianne,  William,  Media  and  Margaret  (who  m.  Samuel  Wann, 
of  New  York), — all  these  were  dead  in  1872.  Besides  these  he  had 
three  sons  living  in  1872  :  James  Hughes,  David,  and  Thomas  John  of 
Cincinnati. 

XII.  John  Gamble,^  of  Canada,  (William,''  David,*  Solomon,-  Josias,') 
b.  1755  ;  came  to  America  1779  ;  Surgeon  of  Queen's  Rangers  ;  went  to 
New  Brunswick  1783;  m.  May  i8th,  1784,  Isabella  Elizabeth  Clarke; 
removed  in  1802  to  Kingston.  Canada,  where  he  d.  Sept.  1st,  181 1.  His 
wife  removed  to  Toronto  in  1820,  and  continued  to  reside  there  with  her 
children  until  her  death,  March  9th,  1859.  They  had  thirteen  children, 
nine  daughters  and  four  sons,  three  of  whom  grew  up  to  manhood,  viz : 

i.  John  William  of  Vaughn.  He  was  m.,  and  had  issue:  Ehzabeth,  Anne 
Birchall,  Mary  Shivers,  Magdalen,  John  Wilham,  Harriet,  Matilda,  and 
Isabella  Caroline.  His  dau.  Elizabeth,  b.  May  24th,  1824;  m.  William 
Greey,  and  had  issue  (surname  Greey):  Mary  McCaulay,  Frances 
Mary,  John  Gamble,  Anne  Isabella  Elizabeth. 

ii.  William  of  Etobicoke ;  m.  Elizabeth  Brenchley,  niece  of  General  Sir 
William  Rowan,  and  had  issue  :  one  daughter,  Patty  Rowan,  who  m. 
John  Boulton,  Esq  ,  of  Toronto,  and  had  eight  children. 

iii.  Clarke  of  Toronto ;  m.  first,  Mary  Boulton  ;  second,  Harriet  Boulton, 
first  cousin  of  his  first  wife,  and  had  issue  :  Sarah,  John,  John  Henry, 
Elizabeth,  Sophia,  Francis  Clarke,  Alleyne  Woodbridge,  Reynald  Darcy, 
Harry  Dudley,  Emily,  and  Gordon. 

XIII.  Nancv  Rachel  Gamble,'^  (William,*  David,* Solomon,"  Josias'), 
m.  John  Irvine  ;  lived  near  PLnniskillen  at  Clabby ;  they  had  six  children, 
who  all  came  to  America  as  early  as  the  fall  of  1794,  since  the  certificate 


FAMIL  y  RECORDS.  377 

of  naturalization  of  the  eldest  son,  James,  states  that  he  was  in  America 
previous  to  January,  1795.  They  left  their  father  behind  in  Ireland,  and 
from  an  old  letter  in  possession  of  his  great-grandson,  J.  Irvine  Ander- 
son, of  New  York,  written  in  1799  by  John  Irvine  from  Ireland  to  his 
daughters  Peggy  and  Betsy,  he  speaks  of  his  disconsolate  situation. 
This  leads  us  to  believe  that  his  wife  had  died  some  time  before.  It 
would  seem  probable  that  the  older  children  had  decided  to  come 
to  America,  and  as  the  younger  children  were  now  left  without  a 
mother's  care,  the  youngest,  Betsy,  being  only  eight  years  old  in  1794, 
they  all  came  together,  with  the  expectation  that  the  father  would 
come  later,  after  a  home  had  been  secured  in  America.  But  from  an  old 
letter,  it  appears  that  John  Irvine  died  in  Ireland  in  181 2.  They  had 
issue  (surname  Irvine )  : — 

14.  i.  Janus,  b.  Feb.  ist,  1770;  m.  Elizabeth  McCall. 

15.  ii.  Jane,  m.  1778,  John  Morrison. 

iii.  Pfggy,  m.  1S09,  Robert   Davis;  d.  in   IlHnois.     They  had  issue  (surname 
Davis):  Sarah  Ann,  James  and  Irvine, 

iv.  Alexander,  a  physician  ;  m.  and  lived  in   Greensburg.  Ky.,  where  he  d. 

without  issue  1839. 
V.  i?a/&/,  journalist ;  a  man  of  remarkable  talent  and  distinguished  ability  ; 
learned  the  printing  business  in  1802  in  Washington,  Pa.  ;  a  political 
writer  of  great  distinction  in  his  day ;  established  and  conducted  the 
Baltimore  Whig,  also  editor  of  New  Orleans  Bulletin.  My  father  says 
of  him,  that  "he  could  not  content  himself  long  at  any  one  place  or 
business ;  he  was  well  educated  and  well  gifted,  but  one  of  those  rest- 
less spirits  not  content  in  any  situation  in  life."  He  d.  in  1833  in  New 
Orleans. 

vi.  Betsy,  b.  1786;  m.   March    14th,  1816,  her  second   cousin,  David  A.   C. 
Sherrard  (see  the  Sherrard  Records). 

She  was  an  unusually  gifted  woman  ;  well  educated  and  remarkably 
well  versed  on  all  questions  of  the  day;  all  who  knew  her  testify  that 
she  was  one  of  the  finest  conversationaUsts  they  ever  knew.  In  her 
later  years  she  was  afflicted  with  spinal  disease,  and  d.  without  issue, 
June  19th,  1855. 

XIV.  James  Irvine*^  (Nancy  Rachel  Gamble,^  William,*  David,^  Solo- 
mon," Josias,')  b.  Feb.  1st,  1770,  in  Enniskillen,  Ireland ;  emigrated  to 
America  1794  (as  we  judge  from  his  certificate  of  naturalization  now  in 
possession  of  his  grandson,  John  Irvine  Anderson  of  New  York,)  and  set- 
tled in  Westmoreland  Co.,  Pa.;  naturalized  Sept.  23,   1779;  this  states 


378  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

that  he  was  "  a  resident "  in  the  United  States  Jan.  29,  1795  ;  removed  in 
1853  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  where  he  d.  Nov.  3d,  1854.  He  m.  Oct.  1801, 
Elizabeth  McCall,  who  was  b.  in  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  April  i8th,  1773. 
They  had  issue  (surname  Irvine)  :  all  now  deceased  except  Nancy. 

i.  Mary. 
ii.  John. 
iii.  Nancy,  unmarried  ;    living  in  Louisxille. 

16.  iv.  Hugh,  b.  Feb.  7,  1807  ;  m.  March  24th,  1840.  Ann  Carothers. 

V.    Will ia III. 
vi.  Elizabeth. 
vii.  James  W.;  m.  Sept.  ist,  1846,  Catherine  Graves. 

17.  viii.  Jane  Torrence  :  m.  April  17th,  1843,  John  H.  Anderson. 

ix.  Baptist. 

XV.  Jane  Irvine,''  (Nancy  Rachel  Gamble,'^  William,^  David,^  Solo- 
mon,^ Josias,^)  b.  in  Ireland;  emigrated  to  America  1794,  and  settled  in 
Westmoreland  Co.,  Pa. ;  m.  1798  John  Morrison,  who  lived  near  what  is 
now  Beatty's  Station.  In  a  letter  dated  July  ist,  1799,  her  father,  John  Ir- 
vine, says  he  is  "  glad  to  hear  that  Jane  is  married  to  her  satisfaction." 
This  letter  will  be  found  among  the  Family  Letters  in  Part  II  of  this 
volume.     They  had  issue  (surname  Morrison) : 

18.  i.  Nancy,  b.  March  gth,  1799;  m.  John  Barnett. 

XVI.  Hugh  Irvine,"  of  Louisville,  (James  Irvine,"  Nancy  Rachel  Gam- 
ble,^ William,*  David,^  Solomon,"  Josias'),  b.  Feb.  7th,  1807;  m.  March 
24th,  1840,  Ann  Carothers.     They  had  issue  (surname  Irvine)  : 

i.  Elisabeth  ;  deceased. 
ii.    William   C. 

iii.  Mary  A/iii ;  m.  Samuel  M.  Merwin.  They  have  issue  (surname  Mer- 
win)  :  Ann  Tingley  ;  Calena  Robb  ;  Hugh  Irvine  ;  Susie  Buckingham  ; 
and  Samuel  Anson. 

Mrs.  Merwin  has  taken  much  interest  in  the  preparation  of  The  Gam- 
ble Records,  and  through  her   I   lirst  heard  of  the  existence  of  the  old 
letter  of  her  great-grandfather,  John  Irvine,  in  possession  of  Mr.  John 
Irvine  Anderson  of  New  York. 
iv.  Nancy  Jane  ;  deceased. 

V.  James  ;  m.  Alice  Olmstead.     They  have  issue  :  Elizabeth, 
vi.  John  Baptist :  m.  Rose  Seabolt.     They  have  issue  :   Samuel  Merwin. 
vii.  Albert  W. ;  deceased, 
viii.  Ann  Carothers ;  deceased. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  379 

XVII.  Jane  Torrence  Irvine,"  (James  Irvine,"  Nancy  Rachel  Gamble,'^ 
William/  David/  Solomon,"  Josias,') ;  m.  April  17, 1843,  John  H.Ander- 
son, of  Westmoreland  Co.,  Pa, ;  both  deceased.  They  had  issue  (sur- 
name Anderson) : 

i.  Mary :  m,  David  Alter,  M.D.,  of  Parnassus,  Pa.     They  ha\e  issue  (sur- 
name Alter) :  Alonzo,  William  and  Joseph, 
ii.  Matilda  ;  m.  John  Wanner,  of  Forest,  O.  ;  no  issue, 
iii.  Maria  Elizabeth  :  unmarried;  hves  in  Louisville, 
iv.  James  ;  deceased. 

V.   Obadia  McKown  ;  m.  May  Shelby  ;   li\-e  in  Forest,  O. ;  no  issue, 
vi.  David  McCaslin  ;  unmarried;  lawyer  in  Arkansas  City,  Kan. 
vii.  John  Iminc  ,■  unmarried ;  in  stationery  business,  New  York  City, 
viii.    William:  deceased. 

XVIII.  Nancy  Morrison,"  (Jane  Irvine,"  Nancy  Rachel  Gamble,''  Wil- 
liam,^ David,^  Solomon,^  Josias') ;  b.  March  9,  1799  ;  m.  Feb.  7,  1822,  John 
Barnett.  This  is  the  "  pretty  cousin,"  mentioned  by  my  father  on  p. 
120  of  this  volume  in  the  Family  History.  They  had  issue  (surname 
Barnett) : 

i.  Jane  Elizabeth. 

ii.  Rachel,  b.  June  27,  1824  ;  ni.  June  12,  1849,  Rev.  Wilson  M.  Donaldson  ; 
d.  April  6,  1854.     They  had  issue  (surname  Donaldson): 
(i).  Sarah  Jane,  d.  in  infancy. 

(2).  Ret'.  John  B.,  D.D.,  of  Minneapolis;  m.  Mary,  daughter  of   Rev. 
R.  F.  Sample,  D.D.,  of  New  York.     They   have  issue  (surname 
Donaldson)  :  Robert  Sample  and  Henry  Wilson. 
(3).  Alexander  Morrison,  oi  l^erxver ;  m.    Mary  Hatfield.     They  have 
issue  (surname  Donaldson) :  McPherrin  Hatfield, 
iii.  /()/;/;  Morrison,  b.  May  20,  1826  ;  m.   Martha   R.  Elder,   who   d.   Oct.  14, 
1889.     Presbyterian  minister,  Washington,  Pa.     They  have   issue  (sur- 
name Barnett)  : 

(l).  James  Elder  ;  lawyer  in  Washington,  Pa. 

(2).  Mary  Agnes  ;  m.  Dec.  5,  1889,  Charles  N.  Boyd,  of  Butler,  Pa. 
(3).  Margaret  Bright. 
iv.  Martha  Jane,  b.  March  26,  1828;  m.  Oct.  14,    1845,   Thomas  Pollock,  of 
Ligonier  Valley.     They  had  issue  (surname  Pollock) : 
(i).  Agnes   Morrison;  m.    Rev.   S.   -S.    Gilson,    of  the    "Presbyterian 
Banner,"     Pittsburgh.      They    have    issue    (surname    Gilson)  ; 
Martha  Helen,  Mary  Barnett  and  Agnes  Louise. 

Mrs.  Gilson,  who  has  taken  much  interest  in  the  preparation  of  The 


380  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

("pamble  Records,  has  in  her  possession  an  old  hair  breastpin,  set  in 
Guinea  gold,  with  the  initials  "  E.  I."  engraved  on  the  back.  It  was 
presented  to  her  by  our  aunt  Betsy  Irvine  Sherrard  before  her  death, 
with  the  statement,  that  it  contained  the  hair  of  her  brother,  Baptist 
Irvine.  It  was  evidently  a  present  frum  him  to  his  sister  in  her  girl- 
hood. 
(2).  Elisabeth  Herron  ;  m.   Robert   J.  Smith,    of  Wooster,   O.     They 

have  issue  (surname  Smith)  :  Watson,  and  Robert  Pollock. 
(3).  Mary  Emma  :  m.   Albert  Shupe,  of  Lancaster,    O.     They   have 

issue  (surname  Shupe) :   Edward  Pollock,  and  Thomas  P. 
(4).  Annie  Rachel,  of  Wooster,  O. 
(5).  Martha  Jane ;  m.    H.   F.  Stark,  of  Greensburg,   Pa.     They  have 

issue  (surname  Stark)  :  Mary,  and  Frank  Pollock. 
(6).  Jesse  Irvine,  of  Wooster,  O. 
(7).  John  Barnett ;  d.  in  infancy. 
(8).  Kate  Mabel,  of  Wooster,  O. 
(9).    Thomas  Cathcart,  of  Wooster,  O.  ;  named   for  uncle  David  A.  C. 

Sherrard. 
V.  Elizabeth  Irvine,  b.  June  25,  1S30;  d.  May  27,  1839. 

vi.  Nancy,  b.  July  16,  1833  ;  m.  Dec.  22,  1858,   Rev.  James   S.   Elder,  D.D., 
of  Clarion,  Pa.     They  have  issue  (surname  Elder)  : 
(l),  John  Wilson  Barnett :  Prof,  in  State  Normal  School,  Indiana,  Pa. 
(2).  James  Montgomery  ;  Journalist;  Washington,  Pa. 
(3).  David  Judson  ;  d.  in  infancy,  Dec.  21,  1871. 
vii.  Mary,  b.  Jan.  27,  1837  ;  m.  Prof  Thomas  B.  Elder,  of  Elder's  Ridge,  Pa. 
They  have  issue  (surname   Elder)  :  Nettie,  Wilson    Barnett,  Margaret 
M.,  Lillie,  Gertrude,  Grace,  James,  and  John, 
viii.  James  Wilson,  of  Hillside,   Pa.  ;  b.   May   27,    1839  ;  m.   Sophronia  Gore. 
They    have   issue    (surname    Barnett)  :  John    Irvine,    Ella    Amanda, 
Nancy  Elder,  Mary  Olive,  and  Ralph. 


III.  THE   CATHCART   RECORDS. 

The  connection  of  the  Sherrards  with  the  Cathcarts  is  through  Mary 
Cathcart,  who  was  the  mother  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard. 

I.  Alexander  Cathcart,'  called  Captain  Cathcart,  was  born  near 
Enniskillen,  County  Fermanagh,  Ireland,  in  171 5  ;  m.  March  17th,  1743, 
Ann  Gamble  (see  the  Gamble   Records).     They  lived  on  a  farm  three 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  381 

miles  from  Enniskillen,  at  a  place  called  Maughrygannon,  and  the  farm 
was  a  life-lease,  each  generation  of  Cathcarts  having  renewed  it  for  a 
long  period  back. 

He  came  to  America  for  his  health  October  25th,  1773,  bringing  with 
him  his  daughter  Mary  for  company  on  the  trip.  They  visited  his  son 
David,  who  had  emigrated  to  America  the  year  before,  and  was  settled 
in  the  southwestern  part  of  Chester  County,  Pa.  His  intention  at  first 
was  to  return  to  Ireland;  but  it  is  evident  from  an  old  letter  from  his 
wife,  which  may  be  seen  among  the  Family  Letters,  that  he  had  changed 
his  purpose,  and  had  sent  for  his  wife  to  come  to  America,  and  she  had 
all  her  arrangements  made  to  come  over  the  spring  of  1775.  However, 
the  Revolutionary  War  broke  out,  and  she  was  prevented  from  coming, 
nor  could  he  return  to  Ireland  with  his  daughter  with  safety.  The 
result  was  that  he  and  his  wife  never  again  met,  for  he  came  with  his 
son  David  out  to  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  the  spring  of  1780,  and  died 
there  April  15th,  1780,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  Laurel  Hill  graveyard. 
His  wife,  Ann  Gamble,  remained  in  Ireland,  and  her  life  was  prolonged 
until  Nov.  20th,  1813.     They  had  issue: 

2.  i.  David,  b.  March  17,  1744;  m.  Susannah  Guthridge. 
ii.  Magdalen,  m.  Thomas  Elliott,  of  Ballygonnell. 

They  had  issue  (surname  Elliott) :  Alexander,  Thomas,  Nancy,  Sarah, 
David,  Mary,  Gabriel,  Andrew  and  George, 
iii.  Jane,  m.  George  McDonald,  of  Cleens.     They  had  issue  (surname  Mc- 
Donald):  Samuel,  David,  George,  Alexander,  Ann  and  James. 
iv.  Sarah,  m.  Stephen  Johnson,  of  near  Enniskillen. 

They  had  issue  (surname  Johnson)  :   David,   Mary,  Ally  and  Mag- 
dalen. 

3.  V.  Mary,  b.  Sept.  28,  1751;   m.  John  Sherrard. 
vi.  Robert,  d.  in  Ireland  when  a  young  man. 

4.  vii.  Andrew,  b.  1755. 

II.  David  Cathc.-vrt-  (Alexander'),  b.  March  i;th,  1744;  m.  Sept.  3, 
1770,  Susannah  Guthridge;  emigrated  to  America  1772;  settled  first  in 
Chester  County,  Pa.,  in  Nottingham  Township ;  removed  to  Fayette 
County  1780;  d.  June  17th,  1836.  His  wife  was  b.  Dec.  5th,  1748,  and  d. 
April  2 1  St,  1826  They  had  no  children,  but  adopted  their  nephew,  David 
Alexander  Cathcart  Sherrard,  who  always  lived  with  them  from  the 
time  he  was  fourteen  months  old,  and  he  inherited  his  uncle's  property. 


382  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

III.  Mary  Cathcart^  (Alexander'),  b.  Sept.  28th,  1751;  tn.  May 
5th.  1784,  John  Sherrard;  d.  Oct.  27th,  1833,  and  buried  at  Laurel  Hill. 
They  had  issue  (surname  Sherrard) :  see  the  Sherrard  Records  (Robert 
A.  Sherrard,'*  Thomas  J.  Sherrard,'  Hallock  C.  Sherrard''). 

IV.  Andrew  Cathcart^  (Alexander'),  b.  1755,  near  Enniskillen,  Ire- 
land; emigrated  to  America  in  1786;  settled  first  in  Albany,  afterwards 
in  Butternuts  Township,  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  d.  in  1840. 
He  was  a  surveyor  and  farmer,  and  was  married  three  times :  first,  in 
1794,  Miss  Brown,  who  d.  May  30th,  1803.     They  had  issue: 

i.  John  Alexander,  b.  Aug.,  1798.  This  John  Alexander  Cathcart  m.  his 
eldest  step-sister  in  1821,  and  about  that  time  he  established  himself  in 
the  mercantile  business  in  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Andrew  Cathcart  m.  secondly.  May  i8th,  1807,  Ann  Moore,  who  d. 
without  issue  Nov.   30th,    1812.     He  m.  thirdly,  in    18  [4,  Sally    Betsy 

,  a  widow  with  four  boys  and  three  girls.     By  this  third   marriage 

Andrew  Cathcart  had  issue  : 

ii.  Elizciht-th  Ann,  b.  181 5. 

In  March,  1890,  I  directed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Cathcart,  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
thinking  it  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  of  the  descendants  of  An- 
drew Cathcart ;  but  it  was  returned,  with  the  statement  that  the  name 
was  not  in  the  Directory. 

I  also  made  inquiries  in  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  but  could  get  no  informa- 
tion of  any  of  the  name  of  Cathcart,  so  that  it  is  probable  there  are  none 
of  the  descendants  of  Andrew  Cathcart  left  to  bear  his  name.  There  are 
copies  of  many  letters  from  him  preserved  in  my  father's  old  letter  books, 
and  he  was  a  prominent  figure  in  the  early  history  of  the  family.  It 
seems  from  the  letters  that  his  son,  John  Alexander,  was  never  in  the 
enjoyment  of  vigorous  health,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  never  had  any 
children. 

Andrew  Cathcart  was  a  highly  intelligent  and  well  educated  man,  and 
his  strong,  earnest.  Christian  character  is  very  manifest  through  his  let- 
ters. Being  the  youngest  child,  he  was  with  his  mother,  Ann  Gamble 
Cathcart,  for  many  years  in  her  loneliness,  after  her  husband  had  come 
to  America,  and  they  were  separated  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  383 

IV.    THE  KITHCART  RECORDS. 

The  connection  of  the  Sherrards  with  the  Kithcarts  is  through  Mary 
Kithcart,  who  was  the  first  wife  of  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard  of  Steuben- 
ville. 

I.  John  Kithcart,'  or  Cathcart,  was  b.  1737,  in  County  Antrim, 
Ireland;  m.  Sarah  White  (who  was  b.  1740,  and  d.  .March  4,  1798,  in 
Fayette  Co.,  Pa.)  They  emigrated  to  America  in  early  times,  but  it  is 
not  known  at  what  time  they  removed  west  of  the  mountains,  nor  where 
their  three  children  were  born.  He  d.  Oct.  26th,  1812,  in  Fayette  Co., 
Pa.     They  had  issue  : 

i.  Mary,  b.  1766;  d.  unmarried  March  4,  1788. 

ii.    Thomas,  b.  Oct.  20th,  1768  ;  d.  Oct.  5,  1792  ;  killed  at  a  barn  raising,  and 
was  to  be  married  the  next  week. 
2.         iii.  Joseph,  b.  Nov.  25th,  1770;  m.  Elizabeth  Cunningham. 

II.  J0.SEPH  Kithcart,^  (John,')  b.  Nov.  2Sth,  1770;  m.  March  22d, 
1792,  Eh'zabeth,  dau.  of  Barnett  and  Anna  (Wilson)  Cunningham.  Bar- 
nett  Cunningham  was  b.  in  Easton,  Pa.,  1737;  m.  1762,  Anna  Wilson; 
lived  at  Peach  Bottom,  York  Co.,  Pa.,  removed  in  1770  to  Tyrone  Town- 
ship, Fayette  Co.,  Pa.,  where  he  d.  1804. 

His  wife,  Anna  (Wilson)  Cunningham,  was  b.  Sept.  i8th,  1739;  d. 
Aug.  4,  1825,  aged  eighty-six,  and  at  that  time  had  of  children,  grand- 
children and  great-grandchildren,  two  hundred  and  fifty.  Joseph  Kith- 
cart  d.  Feb.  24th,  1814.  Elizabeth  (Cunningham)  Kithcart  ni.  secondly 
Feb.  2d,  1818,  John  Gallowa}-,  (who  d.  Sept.  18 19).  She  d.  Aug.  20th, 
1854;  no  issue  by  her  second  marriage.  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Cun- 
ningham) Kithcart  had  issue: 

i.  Sarah,\>.  Dec.  28th,  1792;   d.  Aug,  10,  1866;    m.   Sept.  15,  1 81 2,  William 
Andrews,  who  d.  Oct.  4,  1840.     They  had   issue   (surname  Andrews)  : 
Mary,  Joseph,  Thomas,  Frank,  Elizabeth,  John,  Anna  and  Sarah, 
ii.  Atina,   b.   Oct.  6th,  1794;  d.  June  26th,    i860;  m.  May  5,  1814,  Thomas 
.'\ndrews,  a  younger  brother  of  William. 

Thomas  Andrews  d.  Sept.  l8th,  1838.  They  had  issue  (surname 
Andrews) :  Joseph,  who  was  a  minister  in  the  U.  P.  Church,  and  d. 
June  19th,  1869,  in  Wellsville,  O.  ;  William  (d.  in  infancy)  ;  Elizabeth, 
Agnes,  Sarah,  John,  Thomas  (d.  in  infancy),  Nancy,  William  (2d),  and 
Thomas  (2d),  who  was  a  minister  in  the  U.  P.  Church,  and  d.  Sept. 
1865. 


384  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

iii.  Thomas,  b.  Sept.  7,  1796;  d.  Sept.  16,  i860;  m.  1818,  Deborah  Wright; 
lived  in  .Ashland  Co.,  O.  They  had  issue:  Joseph,  Nathan,  Ehzabeth. 
John,  Thomas,  Sarah,  Cunningham,  Deborah,  Anna,  and  Isaiah. 

3.  iv.  Mary.  b.  Jan.  4th,  1798;  m.  Robert  Andr.:w  Sherrard. 

4.  V.  John,  b,  Dec.  5th,  1799  ;  m.  Mary  Crossland. 

5.  vi.   Cunningham,  b   Sept.  l8th,  1801  ;  m   Jane  Dunlap. 

6.  vii.  Joseph,  b.  Dec.  14th,  1803  ;  m,  Martha  Bennett. 

viii.  .Si'/jy,  b.  March  6th,  1806;  m.  Oct.  1823,  John  Sloanalcer. 

They  had  issue  (surname  Sloanaker) :  John,  Joseph,  Abraham, 
Daniel,  Barnett,  William,  Elizabeth,  Sarah,  and  Kezia. 
ix.  Martha,  b.  June  24th,  1809  ;  m.  June  21st,  1827,  Smiley  Sharon.  They 
had  issue  (surname  Sharon)  :  William,  Joseph,  Sarah  Jane,  John,  Eliza- 
beth, Cunningham,  Alexander,  and  Martha  Ellen. 
X.  Kczia,  b.  April  26,  1812  ;  d.  June  12,  1878  ;  m.  Dec.  30,  1834,  Elias  Yost- 
They  had  issue  (surname  Yost)  :  George  A.,  Mary  J.,  Rachel  K.,  Eliza- 
beth C,  Martha  E.,  Sarah  F.,  Michael,  Margaret  E.,  Hannah  A.,  Caro- 
line M.,  and  Catherine  K.,  who  is  m.  to  Mr.  Sprague  of  Steubenville,  O. 

III.  Mary  KiTHC.^RT,'' (Joseph,-  John,')  b.  Jan.  4,  1798;  d.  July  31, 
1823  ;  m.  Jan.  25,  1816,  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard.  They  had  issue  (sur- 
name Sherrard)  ;  see  The  Sherrard  Records  (Robert,''  Emma  Virginia 
(Elliott),-'  Robert  Sherrard  Elliott.''') 

IV.  John  Kithcart,^  (Joseph,^  John,')  b.  Dec.  5,  1799  ;  m.  1821,  Mary 
Crossland;  lived  in  Uniontown,  Pa.  ;  both  d.  there  in  1849.  They  had 
issue : 

i.    Catherine,  m.  Mr.  Dutton.     They  had  issue  (surname  Dutton) :   Elizabeth 
Jane. 
7  ii.  Joseph,  b.  Oct.  13,  1823;  m.  Elizabeth  Sherrard. 

V.  Cunningham  Kithcart,'  (Joseph,^  John,')  b.  Sept.  18,  1801  ;  d. 
Jime  3,  1876;  m.  1831,  Jane  Dunlap,  who  d.  Sept.  il,  1884.  They  had 
issue  : 

i.  Adam  ;  d.  in  infancy, 
ii.  Elizabeth  Ann  ;  m.  first,  Andrew  Mitchell ;    secondly,  Daniel  Parkinson^ 

They  have  issue  (surname  Parkinson) :  Mary  Jane, 
iii.  Joseph  Addison  ;  m.  Martha  Yost, 
iv.   Catherine  D. ;  d.  1865. 
V.  Sarah  ;  m.  John  Barkhurst 
vi.  Martha  Ellen  ;  m  John  Elliott  Henderson, 
vii.    William  Smiley ;  m.  Martha  Reynard. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  385 

viii.  James  Tliomas  ;  m.  Mary  Cole.  ', 

ix.  Mary  Elthisa  ;  m.  David  Elliott. 

VI.  Joseph  Kithcart,^  (Joseph,^  John/)  b.  Dec.  14,  1803  ;  d.  May  8, 
1851  ;  m.  1830,  Martha  Bennett,  who  d.  July  2,  1869.     They  had  issue: 

i.  Joseph  ;  d.  at  four  years  of  age. 

ii.  Rebecca  B. ;  m.  Robert  M.  Dickey,  who  d.  March  7,  1890.     They  have 

issue  (surname   Dickey)  :  Mary  Ada,   who  graduates   at  Washington 

Female  Seminary  in  June,  1890  ;  and  Martha, 
iii.    Cimninghain  ;  d.  in  infancy. 
iv.  Samuel  W. ;  d.  in  infancy. 
V.  Mary  Elizabeth ;    m.  J.  Plummer  Bracken.     They  have  issue   (surname 

Bracken)  :  Joseph  Willard,  physician  in  Salt  Lake  City  ;    Walter,  and 

Edith, 
vi.  Sarah  Louisa  ;  m.  first,  William  Stier  ;  secondly,  John  A.  Page, 
vii.  Martha  Helen  ;  d.  in  infancy. 

VII.  Joseph  Kithcart,*  (John,'  Joseph,-  John,')  b.  Oct.  13,  1823  ;  m. 
May  7,  1846,  Elizabeth  Sherrard,  his  cousin,  dau.  of  Robert  Andrew 
Sherrard.     They  had  issue  : 

\.  John  Albert,  \>.^Q\.  9,   1847;    graduated  at  Washington  and  Jefferson 

College   1871  ;    lawyer  in   Steubenville,  O. ;    m.   Dec.   26,   1871,  Sarah 

Jane  Bigger.     They  have  issue  :    Nancy  Sherrard,  who  d.  in  infancy  ; 

Joseph  Bigger,  Mary  Helen,  Elizabeth  Jane,  and  Wilma  Alberta. 

ii.  Robert  Sherrard,   b.    May  24,    1850;    m.    Jennie  Nevvby.      They  have 

issue :  Margaret,  Paul,  and  Percy, 
iii.  Henry  Comingo,  b.  Sept.  13,  1852  ;  m.  Elizabeth  Gregg, 
iv.  Mary,  b.  July  16,  1855  ;  m.  James  Orr.     They  had  issue  (surname  Orr)  : 

Velma.  , 

v.  Emma,  b.  Oct.  26,  1857  ;  d.  in  infancy, 
vi.  Elisabeth  Jane,  h.'^ov.g,  1858;  d.  Sept.  20,  1886;  m.  Watson   Walker. 

They  had  issue  (surname  Walker),  Louella  and  Earl, 
vii.  Anna  Katherine,  b.  Feb.  10,  i85i  ;  m.  Oliver  Cleaver.     They  have  issue 

(surname  Cleaver)  :    Frank, 
viii.  Jessie  Bertha,  b.  Nov.  6,  1864. 
ix.  Martha  Ellen,  b.  August  18,  1867. 


25 


386  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

V.     THE  JOHNSON  RECORDS. 

The  connection  of  the  Sherrards  with  the  Johnsons  is  through  the 
second  wife  of  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard  of  Steubenville,  who  was  Jane 
Hindman,  the  granddaughter  of  both  Esther  and  Jane  Johnston.  The 
spelhng  of  the  name  was  changed  in  later  times. 

1.  John  (?)  Johnston',  Hved  and  was  married  in  County  Down,  Ireland. 
The  Christian  name  of  his  wife  is  thought  to  have  been  Elizabeth.  His 
Christian  name  is  not  known  by  any  of  his  descendants,  but  from  the 
fact  that  every  generation  of  Johnstons  has  had  a  John,  it  seems  at  least 
probable  that  the  name  of  this  ancestor  was  John.  He  had  seven  chil- 
dren and  the  oldest,  whose  name  was  John,  remained  in  Ireland,  while 
the  father  and  mother,  with  their  other  six  children  left  Ireland  in  1772 
to  come  to  America. 

The  father  and  mother  died  on  ship-board.  The  children  came  on 
and  landed  at  New  Castle,  and  settled  in  Delaware,  and  at  this  time 
Richard,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was  only  nine  years  old.  The 
three  older  members  of  the  family  were  married  in  Delaware,  and  in 
1791  the  whole  family  came  across  the  mountains  and  settled  in  Wash- 
ington Co.,  Pa.,  near  Canonsburg.  The  names  of  these  seven  Johnston 
children  were  as  follows  : 

i.  Joh}i ;  remained  in  Ireland,  and  d.  there. 

2.  ii.    William,  h.  1750;  m.  Elizabeth  Laughlin. 

3.  iii.  Esther;  m.  Hugh  Jackson. 

4.  iv.  Jane  ;  m.  James  Hindman. 

5.  V.  Margaret ;  m.  Robert  Anderson. 

6.  VI.  Elizabeth  ;  m.  WiUiam  Campbell. 

7.  vii.  Richard,  b.  June,  1763  ;  m.  Jane  Bradford. 

II.  WiLLi.\M  Johnston",  (John',)  b.  1750;  d.  Jan.  4,  1S29;  m.  1773, 
Elizabeth  Laughlin,  (vvfho  was  b.  175  i  ;  d.  Jan.  10,  1816);  lived  on  Mil- 
ler's Run,  Washington  Co.,  Pa.,  afterwards  removed  to  Harrison  Co.,  O., 
and  lived  near  Beech  Spring.     They  had  issue  : — 

i.  John  ;  m.  Hannah  Sellers  (who  d.  1830);  d.  May  28th,  1832.  For  many 
years  he  kept  "John  Johnston's  tavern"  in  Washington,  Pa.;  was  a 
great  land  speculator,  and  d.  wealthy.  They  had  issue:  John  Jr.,  Wil 
liam,    Samuel    B.,  Sarah,    m.    Rev.    Eoenezer  S.    Graham,   who    was 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  387 

pastoral  Pigeon  Creek,  1837-1842,  Elizabeth,  m.  Mr.  Hitchcock,  and 

d.   1848,  aged  27. 
ii.   Catherine,  b.  Oct.  22d,  1778  ;  d.  July,  1851  ;  m.  James  Slemmons.     They 

had  issue  (surname  Slemmons)  :  John,  Linn,  William,  and  Mary. 
iii.  Ann,  b.  1779;  d.  June  7th,  1849;  m.  John  McLaughlin,  1800;   moved  to 

Jefferson  Co.,  O.,  1801.     They  had  issue  (surname  McLaughlin): 

(1).  Eliza;  m.  Mr.  McMillan. 

(2).  Mary  ;  m.  Thomas  Hamilton. 

(3).  Nancy ;  m.  William  Calderhead. 

(4).  Margaret  Ann  ;  m.  John  Hagan. 

(5).    IVii/iam,  h.  lSl2\  m.  Elizabeth  Berry. 

(6).  fames  M. 

(7).  Jane;  m.  Kinney  McLaughlin. 

(8).  John ;   m.  Miss  Kerr. 

(9).   Samuel  R.\  m.  Ellen,  dau.  of  Richard  Johnson. 
(10).   Catherine ;  m.  Robert  Hagan. 
iv.  Richard ;  d.  Feb.,  1843. 
V.  Robert;  m.  first,  Anna  Leech;   secondly.  Miss   Sutherland,  by  whom  he 

had  a  son,  Samuel,  who  is  now  Superintendent  in  the  Ohio  State  Peni- 
tentiary, 
vi.  Rev.  William,  of  Dunlap's  Creek;  b.  1784;  d.  at   Brownsville,  Pa.,  Dec. 

31st,    1841  ;    m.  Sept.,    1814,  Martha  Gallaher.     They  had  issue  ;  ten 

children,  of  whom  W^illiam   Cunningham  was  the  oldest,  and  d.  Jan. 

4th,  1887.     Two  only  of  these  ten  children  are   now  living;  George 

Gallaher,  who  m.   Hannah  McCullough,   of   Canonsburg,   and  James 

Guthrie,  who  m.  Emma  Huston,  of  Uniontcwn. 
vii.  Alexander  ;  m.  Miss  Johnson,  and  family  went  west, 
viii.  Elizabeth;  d.  April  6,  1823. 
ix.  Mary;  d.  Oct.  6,  1823. 
X.  James,  b.  April   12,    1793  ;  d.   Nov.   9,    1863  ;  m,    1818,   Mary  Simpson. 

They  had  issue  : 

(l).  Margaret  Ann,  b.  1819;  m.  Samuel  Mutchmore,  who  d.  1888. 
They  had  issue  (surname  Mutchmore)  :  one  child  only,  Martha, 
who  m.  John  C.  Tallman,  of  St.  Clairsville,  O.,  and  they  have 
one  child,  Ina  Tallman,  who  graduates  at  Washington  Female 
Seminary  in  June,  1890. 

(2).  Elisabeth  ;  unmarried. 

(3).  Mary ;  m.  Mr.Dickerson.  They  have  issue  (surname  Dickerson)  : 
Harvey  ;  Anna,  who  m.  Rev.  William  Hunter  ;   Ruth  and  Flora. 

(4).  Sarah  ;  m.  William  Boals. 

(5).   Catheri?te ;  unmarried. 

(6).  James  Harvey. 
xi.  Samuel,  h.  1798;  d.  1821. 


388  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

III.  Esther  Johnston,"  (John'),  m.  1777,  Hugh  Jackson.  They  both 
d.  in  18 1 5  at  the  home  of  their  son-in-law,  John  Hindman,  in  Cross 
Creek  Township,  Jefferson  Co.,  O.,  and  were  buried  in  old  Centre  grave- 
yard.    They  had  issue  (surname  Jackson) ;  one  child  only  : 

i.  Na)icv,h.  Dec.  10,  1778;  m.  Dec.  15,  1803,  John  Hindman,  her  cousin. 
They  had  issue  (surname  Hindman)  see  The  Hindman  Records  (Jane 
Hindman  (Sherrard),  Thomas  Johnson  Sherrard,  Hallock  C.  Sher- 
rard). 
She  m.  secondly,  April  15,  1830,  John  Orr,  of  Holliday's  Cove,  Va.,  and 
d.  Feb.  4,  1839;  buried  at  Three  Springs,  near  Holliday's  Cove. 

IV.  Jane  Johnston,"  (John '),  m.  1777,  James  Hindman,  who  d.  in 
1801  ;  d.  1824,  at  her  brother  Richard  Johnston's,  near  Canonsburg, 
while  on  a  visit  there,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  Chartiers  graveyard. 
They  had  issue  (surname  Hindman):  see  The  Hindman  Records  (John 
Hindman,  Jane  Hindman  (Sherrard),  Thomas  Johnson  Sherrard,  Hal- 
lock  C.  Sherrard). 

Mrs.  Stockton,  of  Canonsburg,  daughter  of  Richard  Johnston,  and 
niece  of  Esther  and  Jane  Johnston,  now  in  her  eighty-sixth  year,  has 
recently  spoken  to  me  about  her  aunts,  Esther  and  Jane.  She  says  they 
were  both  fine-looking  women ;  attractive  and  interesting  in  their  man- 
ner, and  very  pleasant  in  their  conversation.  My  mother  has  also  this 
evening,  April  3,  1890,  spoken  to  me  in  the  same  terms  of  these,  her 
two  grandmothers,  and  she  says  that  Jane  Johnston  in  particular  was 
very  tall ;  that  she  was  a  woman  of  remarkable  vigor  of  body  and 
strength  of  character,  with  a  very  cheerful  disposition. 

V.  Margaret  Johnston-  (John'),  b.  1760;  d.  Sept.  13, 1827;  m.  Robert 
Anderson  (who  d.  Sept.  2,  1838,  in  his  eighty-fifth  year);  lived  two 
miles  southwest  of  Claysville,  Washington  Co.,  Pa. 

They  had  issue  (surname  Anderson),  none  now  living: 

i.  Samuel :  m.  June  28,  1814,  Catherine  Forbes. 

ii.  Richard ;  m.  and  left  two  daughters, 
iii.  Mary ;  m.  Wilham  Ramsey,  and  d.  about  i860, 
iv.  John;  d.  July  25,  1863. 

V.  James  ;  d.  April  14,  18 14. 
vi.    William. 
\\\  Robert. 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  389 

viii.  ^fargaret ;  m.  Isaac  Finical. 
ix.  Hugh  ;  m.  Miss  Wallace. 
X.  Jane ;  m.  James  George ;  lived  in  Claysville,  and  one   daughter,   IVtary 

George,  is  still  living  there. 
xi.   Thomas,  a  physician  ;  d.  in  Indiana. 

VI.  Elizabeth  Johnston^  (John'),  b.  about  1761  ;  d.  March  22,  1839; 
m.  1790,  William  Campbell,  who  d.  July  2,  1 8 10;  both  buried  in  Char- 
tiers  graveyard.  They  lived  south  of  Canonsburg,  and  not  far  from 
Chartiers  Church.     They  had  issue  (surname  Campbell) : 

i.  James,  b.  Feb.  7,  1792  ;  d.  Jan.  22,  1873. 
ii.  John,  b.  March  2,  1794  ;  d.  May  28,  1869. 
iii.  Rev.   Richard,  of  HoUiday's   Cove,  b.   June  4,  1796;  President  of  New 

Athens  College  ;  d.  Nov.  17,  1835,  at  Crab  Apple,  O. 
iv.    William,  b.  May  15,  1798  ;  d.  March  22,  1874. 
v.  Mary,  b.  July  13,  1800;  d  in  infancy, 
vi.  Andrew,  b.  May  9,    1803  ;  d.   Nov.    19,    1878  ;  a  son,   Thomas  Johnson 

Campbell,  is  living, 
vii.  Elizabeth,  b.  March  10,  1808;  d.  Aug.  28,  1838. 
viii.   Hugh,  b.  Feb.  10,  1810;  d.  Jan.  14,  1878. 

VII.  Richard  Johnston/ (John'),  b.  June,  1763;  d.  Nov.  13,  1836; 
m.  Aug.  23,  1796,  Jane  Bradford.  She  was  b.  Dec.  12,  1779;  d.  July 
21,  1839.  They  lived  two  miles  south  of  Canonsburg,  on  the  farm 
which  is  still  owned  and  occupied  by  their  grandson,  Richard  Van  Eman 
Johnson.  For  many  years  before  his  death  Richard  Johnston  was  an 
elder  in  the  Chartiers  Presbyterian  Church,  and  his  tombstone  of  the 
olden  style  may  still  be  seen,  in  the  old  graveyard  of  that  church. 

The  old  house,  where  he  took  his  youthful  bride  of  seventeen,  has 
long  since  disappeared,  but  it  stood  very  near  to  the  present  Johnson's 
Station  on  the  Chartiers  Valley  R.  R.,  on  the  side  next  to  the  creek. 
They  had  issue: 

8.  i.  Mary,  b.  Sept.  24,  1798;  m.  Thomas  Allison, 
ii.  James,  b.  March  ro,  1800;  d.  Sept.  19,  1819. 

9.  iii.    William,  b.  May  3,  1802  ;  m.  Elizabeth  Orr. 

iv.  Elizabeth,  b.  Feb.  6,  1804;  m.  first,  April  8,  1830,  George  Gladden,  who 
d.  May  9,  1859,  i"  ^'^  sixty-sixth  year;  secondly,  Nov.  19,  1861,  Rev. 
John  Stockton,  D.D.,  of  Cross  Creek  Village,  who  d.  May  5,  1882,  aged 
seventy-nine.  No  issue  by  either  marriage.  Mrs,  Elizabeth  Stockton, 
after  the  death  of  her  second  husband,  removed  to  Canonsburg,  where 
she  is  still  living,  April  3,  1890,  and  is  the  only  remaining  representa- 
tive of  her  generation. 


390  THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 

10.  V.  John,  b.  March  6,  1806;  m.  Rebecca  Van    Eman. 
vi.  Richard,  b.  July  1,  1808;  d.  Dec.  10,  1831. 

v\\.  Jane,\i.  May  21,  181 1;  twin  with  Thomas;  d.  June  2,  1888;  m  May 
II,  1833,  Guyan  Morrison  (who  was  b.  Aug.  5,  1804;  d.  Dec.  11,  1876). 
They  had  issue  (surname  Morrison) :  John,  who  hves  at  Canonsburg, 
and  has  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  Johnson  Records,  furnishing  me 
with  many  names  and  dates. 

11.  viii.    Thomas,  b.  May  21,  181 1  ;  m.  Catherine  Johnson. 

12.  ix.  David,  b.  May  19,  1813  ;  m.  Jane  Rex. 

X.   George,  b.  Aug.  7,  181 5  ;  d.  April  14,  1875  '<  "i-  Aug.  25,  1847,  Mary  Ruth 

Tracy  ;  lived  in  Portsmouth,  O. 

They  had  issue :  Emma  T.,  who  m.  S.  B.  Jennings,  and  he  d.  March 

29,  1881  ;  Samuel,  m. ;  Albert  T.  ;  and  Tracy  B. 
xi.  Nancy,  b.  April  15,  1822;  d.  Oct.  17,  1827. 

VIII.  Mary  Johnson,' (Richard,- John,^)  b.  Sept.  24,  1798;  d.  Feb.  7, 
18S4;  m.  May  1817,  Thomas  Allison  (who  was  b.  April  15,  1780;  d. 
Oct.  21,  1849.     They  had  issue  (surname  Allison)  : 

i.  Jane,  d.  at  twenty-four  years  of  age. 
ii.  James  ;  unmarried. 

iii.  Richard ;  d.  1847  at  Jalapa,  Mexico. 

iv.    William  ;  d.  at  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

V.    Thomas  ;  unmarried. 

vi.  Jonathan;  m.  1857,  Margaret  Gabby.  They  have  issue  (surname  Alli- 
son) :  Mary,  who  d.  in  infancy ;  Margaret,  who  m.  William  A.  Dick- 
son, and  she  d.  Sept.  26,  1888;  Albert  Johnson;  Thomas  G. ;  Edwin 
E. ;  William  E.  (twin  with  Edwin,  and  d.  at  ten  years  of  age);  John 
Blakeslee  ;  Ralph  M.  ;  and  Jane. 

IX.  William  Johnson,'  (Richard,-  John,')  b.  May  3  1802  ;  d.  Dec.  27, 
1838;  m.  May  10,  1826,  Elizabeth  Orr  of  Washington,  Pa.;  a  physician, 
first  in  Washington,  Pa.,  afterwards  in  Cadiz,  O. 

His  wife  d.  soon  after  him,  and  their  children  were  scattered  among 
their  uncles  and  aunts :  Margaret  to  John ;  Richard  to  Mrs.  Morrison  J 
Albert  O,  to  Mrs.  Gladden  ;  and  William  F.  to  David.  Dr.  William  John- 
son had  issue  : 

i.  James,  b.  1827  ;  d.  1S53. 
ii.  Margaret ;  d.  July  12,  1885  ;  m.  Augustus  Blakeslee  of  Waterbury,  Conn. 

They  had  issue  (surname  Blakeslee) ;  Albert ;    and  Jennie  E. 
iii.  Richard ;  m   and  lived  in  Illinois,  and  had  six  children. 


FA.yiLY  RECORDS.  ?,91 

iv.  Rc-li  Albert  Oshornc.  b.  June  22,  1833;  m.  Amanda  Joanna  Gill;  mission- 
aries to  India;  himself  and  wife  shot  at  Cawnpore  massacre,  June  10, 
1857. 

V.  Junius  C. ;  d.  at  two  years  of  age. 

vi.  Rev.  Willia)n  F.,  b.  March  16,  1838;  m.  Rachel  Lillie  Kerr;  missionary 
to  India  in  i860  to  take  his  brother  Albert's  place;  twenty  years  in 
India  ;  now  President  of  Biddle  University,  N.  C. 

They  had   issue  :    William,   Mary,   Ella,   Edwin   Kerr,  Bertie,  Jane 
Rex,  Frank  Orr,  Walter  Frederic,  and  Dora  Elizabeth. 

X.  John  Johnson,'  (Richard,-  John,')  b.  March  6,  1806;  d.  Oct.  9, 
1888;  m.  March  17,  1840,  Rebecca  Van  Eman  (b.  Sept.  13,  18 12;  d. 
Sept.  5,  1889).     They  had  issue  : 

i.  Richard  Van  Eman;   m.  Nov.    17,  1869,  West  Anna   Lee.     They   have 

issue  :  Rebecca  Jane,  who  graduates  at  Washington   Female  Seminary 

in  June,  1890;  and  William  Lee. 
ii.  Joseph  Bradjord ;    m.  June  5,  1867,  Hannah  Jane  Crothers.     They  have 

issue :  Ella  Maud,  John  Tracy,  and  Charles  Crothers. 
iii.  John  G.  ;  m.  June  22,  1875,  Annie  Morrison.      They  have  issue  :  George 

v.,  William  M.,  Edwin,  who  d.  young,  and  Ernest. 

XI.  Thomas  Johnson'  (Richard,^  John*),  b.  May  21st,  181 1 ;  twin  with 
Jane;  d.  June  19th,  1879;  m.,  Jan.  12th,  1842,  Catherine  Emery  John- 
.son,  who  was  no  relation;  physician  in  Steubenville.     They  had  issue: — 

i.   Thomas,  m.  Margaret  Jane  Sharp.     They  have  issue  ;   William  Richard ; 

Thomas,  who  d.  in  infancy,  and  Catherine  Elizabeth. 
ii.  Johti  M.  ;  unm. 
iii.  David  B. ;  unm. 
iv.   George;  unm. 
13.         V.   Catherine,  m.  Robert  Sherrard,  Jr. 
vi.  Mary  Elisabeth. 

XII.  David  Johnson'  (Richard,-  John'),  b.  May  19th,  1813;  d.  Feb. 
8th,  1883;  m.,  Feb.  9th,  1841,  Jane  Rex,  who  d.  May  I2th,  1889;  lived 
at  Two  Ridges,  O. ;  afterwards  in  Steubenville.     They  had  issue  : — 

i.  John   G. :   physician  in   Detroit ;  m.,  first,   Kate  Doty,   and  had  issue  : 
Bradford   and   Nora.      He   m.,   secondly,   Ahce   Parker.     They  have 
issue :  Rex. 
ii.  Pamelia  Rex,  m.  D.  Madison  Welday.     They  have  issue  (surname  Wel- 
day) :  William. 


392  THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

iii.    Walter  O.  ,■  banker  in  Steubenville  ;  m.  Julia  Blinn. 
iv.  Mmy  Alice. 

XIII.  Catherine  Johnson''  (Thomas,^  Richard,^  John')  m.,  Dec.  13th, 
1 88 1,  Robert  Sherrard,  Jr.,  of  Steubenville.  See  The  Sherrard  Records. 
They  have  issue  (surname  Sherrard) : — 

i.    Thomas  Johnsoti,  b.  Sept.  17th,  1882. 
ii.  Robert  Stanton,  b.  March  24th,  1884;  d.  Aug.  5th,  1889. 
iii.  Mary  Catherine,  b.  Aug.  23d,  1887. 


VI.     THE   HINDMAN   RECORDS. 

The  connection  of  the  Sherrards  with  the  Hindmans  is  through  Jane 
Hindman,  the  second  wife  of  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard,  of  Steubenville. 

I.  James  Hindman,'  b.  in  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  1750;  m.  in  Dela- 
ware, in  1777,  Jane  Johnston;  removed,  with  all  the  Johnston  family, 
across  the  mountains,  in  1791,  and  settled  near  Canonsburg.  They 
brought  their  Presbyterian  certificates  of  church  membership  with  them, 
and  united  with  the  Chartiers  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  Dr.  John 
McMillan  was  pastor.  James  Hindman  died  in  1801,  and  was  buried  in 
the  old  Chartiers  graveyard.  His  wife,  Jane  Johnston,  removed  with 
her  sons  in  181 2,  and  settled  near  Centre  Church,  in  Jefferson  County, 
O.,  and  they  all  brought  their  certificates  and  joined  that  church.  Her 
son  Robert  afterwards  removed  to  Washington,  Pa.,  and  she  lived  with 
him  there.  '  Father  says  :  "  I  saw,  and  conversed  with  her,  February  22d, 
1823,  in  the  tavern  of  her  nephew,  John  Johnson,  in  Washington,  Pa., 
and  I  found  her  kind,  courteous  and  affable,  and  at  that  time  she  was 
quite  lively  on  foot."  While  on  a  visit  to  her  youngest  brother,  Richard 
Johnston,  near  Canonsburg,  she  was  taken  ill,  and  died  at  his  house 
early  in  the  spring  of  1824,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  Chartiers  grave- 
yard. Mrs.  Stockton,  daughter  of  Richard  Johnston,  who  is  still  living, 
has  told  me  that  when  they  were  all  children  at  home,  it  was  a  matter  of 


FAMILY  RECORDS.  393 

the  greatest  delight  to  them  to  have  a  visit  from  "Aunt  Jennie."     The 
children  of  James  and  Jane  Johnston  Hindman  were  as  follows  : — 

i.    William,  b.  1778;  d.  1788. 

2.  ii.  John,  b.  1780;  m.  Nancy  Jackson, 

iii.  Richard,  b.  1782;  m.  Anna  Mahan;  removed  from  Washington  County, 
Pa.,  in  181 2,  and  lived  near  Centre  Church,  Jefferson  County,  O.  ;  re- 
moved to  Morgan  County,  O.,  in  1831,  and  his  wife  d.  in  1838.  They 
had  issue:  Jane,  Ann,  James,  Rachel,  Mary,  and  Margaret.  He  m.  a 
second  time,  and  d.  many  years  ago. 

iv.  Robert,  b.  Aug.,  1788;  d.  June  23d,  1856;  m.  Jan.  6th,  1820,  Sidney  Mil- 
ler, of  Wellsburg;  lived  in  Washington,  Pa.,  and  were  members  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  that  place  until  their  death.  They  had 
issue:  Elizabeth  (b.  1823;  d.  July  17th,  1858),  who  m.  David  Gray, 
(and  they  had  issue — surname  Gray :  Ella  and  John,  and  they  removed 
to  California  years  ago)  ;    and  Mary  who  d.  at  five  years. 

II.  John  Hindman^  (James'),  b.  1780;  d.  Aug.  23d,  1820;  m.  Dec. 
15th,  1803,  his  cousin,  Nancy  Jackson.  .She  m.  secondly,  April  15th, 
1830,  John  Orr,  of  Holliday's  Cove.  John  Hindman  lived  first  near 
Canonsburg,  and  they  were  members  of  Dr.  John  McMillan's  church  at 
Chartiers,  and  were  married  by  him. 

In  April,  18 10,  they  removed  to  Ohio,  to  a  farm  afterwards  called 
Pleasant  Hill,  on  the  waters  of  Mclntyre  Creek,  Jefferson  County.  They 
became  members  of  the  Old  Centre  Church,  which  John  Hindman 
lielped  to  organize,  and  in  which  he  was  one  of  the  first  elders,  and  he 
rertiained  in  that  office  until  his  death.     They  had  issue : 

3.  i.  Jane,  b.  Dec.  14th,  1804;  m.  Robert  A.  Sherrard. 

ii.  Elizabeth,  b.  Jan  31st,  1807;  d.  Oct.,  1886;  m.  Jan.  8th,  1835,  Robert 
Lee,  who  was  b.  1806;  d.  Jan.  l6th,  1853.  They  had  issue  (surname 
Lee) : 

(i.)  Mary,  b.  May,  1836;  m.  Feb.  5th,  1885,  David  J'ry,  of  Burgetts- 
town. 

(2.)  A^z/ry,  b.  March,  1839;  unmarried;  lives  in  Burgettstown. 
(3.)  Elizabeth  Jane,  b.  Aug.,  1844;  m.  June  5th,  1867,  Levi  Scott,  of 
near  Burgettstown,  and  he  d.  in  June,  1883.     They  had  issue  (surname 
Scott) :  Lee,  b.  1868,  and  he  now  has  charge  of  his  father's  farm, 
iii.  James,  b.  1810;  d.  181 5. 
iv.  Hugh,  b.  1813;  d.  181 5. 
v.  John  Jackson,  b.  1819;  d.  eighteen  months  old. 


394 


THE  SHERRARD   FAMILY. 


III.  Jane  Hindman^  (John,-  James'),  b.  Dec.  14th,  1804;  m.  May 
24th,  1827,  Robert  Andrew  Sherrard,  who  d.  Jan.  ist,  1874.  She  re- 
moved in  Oct.,  1875,  from  Steubenville,  Ohio,  to  Washington,  Pa.,  and 
lives  with  her  daughter  Nancy,  who  is  Principal  of  the  Washington  Fe- 
male Seminary.  See  the  Sherrard  Records.  (Thomas  Johnson  Sher- 
rard,* Hallock  C.  Sherrard.'^). 


IV.     FAMILY   GENEALOGIES. 


The  following  pages  contain  Genealogical  tables  of  related  families. 
The  design  is  to  show  at  a  single  glance,  in  the  order  of  generations,  the 
descent  of  these  kindred  families  from  the  most  remote  ancestor  whose 
name  is  known,  and  at  the  same  time  show  the  kinship  existing  between 
those  who  belong  to  the  same  generation. 

The  perpendicular  lines  divide  the  generations,  and  these  are  num- 
bered to  correspond  precisely  with  the  small  Arabic  figures  attached  to 
certain  names  in  the  preceding  Family  Records.  According  to  this 
plan,  to  make  such  a  table  to  be  of  practical  value,  it  must  be  included 
within  two  oppisite  pages  for  ready  reference.  This  will  explain  why 
many  names  found  in  the  Records  do  not  appear  in  the  Genealogies,  and 
it  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  space  does  not  permit  the  use  of  all  the 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  names  found  on  the  Records. 

395 


396 


THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 
I.     THE   SHERRARD   GENEALOGY. 


GENERATION    I. 

GENERATION    2. 

GENERATION  3. 

GENERATION  4. 

Children  of  William 

Children  of  John  Sher- 

Children of  John  J.     \ 

Sherrard. 

rard. 

Sherrard. 
William, 
James. 

John, 

m.  Mary  Cathcart. 

William  Johnston. 

Children  of  Robert  A. 
Sherrard. 

Mary  Anne  (Hill). 

Joseph  Kithcart. 

EHzabeth. 

David  A.  Cathcart, 
ni.  Betsy  Irvme. 

David  C. 

Elizabeth  (Kithcart). 

Robert. 

William, 

b.  1720; 
m.  1750, 

Margaret. 

John  James, 

m.  Sarah  Harrah. 

Margaret   Johnston. 

John  Hindman. 
Jane. 

Robert  .\ndrew. 

Susan  Cathcart  (Orr). 

James. 

m.    Mary    Kithcart ; 

aiso  Jane  Hindman. 

Sarah. 
William  Henry. 

Mary  (?). 

Thomas  Guthridge, 

Thomas  Johnson. 

j 

m.  Rebecca  Conn. 

Children  of  Thomas  G. 

Sherrard.               \ 

William  Johnston. 

Thomas  Guthridge. 

FAMILY  GENEALOGIES. 


397 


I.     THE   SHERRARD    GENEALOGY. 


GENERATION  5. 

GENERATION  6. 

Children  of  Mary  Anne  Shtrrard  {Hill). 
Rosamond  C. 
Elizabeth  Jane. 

Willis  H.,  James  F.,  Mary  H.,  David  R..  Julia  C. 
Henrietta  M.,  Mary  S.,  Nannie  M.. 

Mary  (Bennett) 

Children  of  David  C.  Sherrard. 

Lottie  S.,  Emma,  Mary  A.,  Nettie. 

Dora. 

Ida. 

Hattie. 

Blanche  M.,  Zella. 

Harrj',  Ida,  Robert. 

Milan,  Robert,  Jessie,  Howard,  Orie,  Lula. 

Clarence. 

Mabel,  Louis. 

Lizzie  C.  (Brust) 

Hattie  B.  (Tindall) 

Emma  V.  (Smith) 

Rose  T.  (Tindall) 

IdaM. 

Children  of  Elizabeth  Sherrard  (Kithcart) 
John  Albert 

Nancy  S.,  Joseph  B.,  Mary  H.,  Lizzie  J.,  Wilraa  A. 
Margaret,  Paul,  Percy. 

Velma. 

Louella,  Earl. 
Frank. 

Henry  Comingo. 

Emma 

Elizabeth  Jane  (Walker)             

Anna  K.  (Cleaver) 

Jessie  B. 
iMartha  Ellen. 

Children  of  Robert  Sherrard. 

Emma  Virginia  (Elliot) 

William. 
Henry  Comingo. 
Thomas  Johnson. 
'     Robert  Stanton. 
Mary  Catherine. 

Robert  Sherrard,  Lillie  B.,  Harry  S. 

Children  of  John  Hindman  Sherrard. 
Jane  Hindman  (Evving) 

\ 
Eleanor,  Anna,  John  Sherrard,  Margaret  R, 
Stephen,  John  Sherrard. 

Charles  Bealty. 
John  Hughes. 
Robert  Maurice. 

Helen  Ewing. 

ChUdren  of  Susan   C.  (Sherrard)   Orr. 
Robert  Sherrard. 
William  Culbertson. 
Henry  Franklin. 
George  Thomas. 
Jane  Hindman. 

Children  of  Thomas  /ohnson  Sherrard. 
Virginia. 

Haliock  Campbell. 
Mary  Campbell. 
Robert  Andrew. 

Children  of  Thomas  G.  Sherrard. 

Rachel,  Thomas  G.,  Mary  A. 

f  Margaret    I.,  Thomas  G.,    David    P.,  Mary  A.,    ' 
\     John  C,  William  J.,  James  E.,  Jacob  H. 

Thomas  S.,  Martha  J.,  Joseph  A.,  Elsie  M. 

Rebecca  A. 

Nancy  (Humbert) 

William  Johnson. 
Martha  Jane. 
Jacob  Henderson. 

398 


THE  SHERRARD  FAMILY. 

II.     THE  GAMBLE  GENEALOGY. 


GENERATION   I. 


GENERATION   2. 


GENERATION   3.        GENERATION  4         GENERATION  5. 


Gatnble. 


Gamble. 


of  Graan. 


Gamble. 


Samuel. 
Mary  Rebecca, 
-.  Mr.  Scott. 


.  Alexander  Cath- 


Cathcart. 


of  Ratonagh. 


Gamble. 
Magdalen  {?), 
m.  Mr.  Hughe! 


William, 
m.  Leah  Tyr 


Andrew, 
of  Chester  County. 


Dr.  John, 
of  Canada, 
m.  Isabella  E. 
Clarke. 


Nancy  Rachel, 
m,  John  Irvine 


FAMILY  GENEALOGIES. 
11.     THE  GAMBLE  GENEALOGY. 


399 


GENERATION  6. 

GENERATION  7. 

GENERATION    8.         GENERATION   9. 

GENERATION    lO.    1 

Gamble. 
Baptist. 
Samuel. 

Scott. 
Baptist. 

Scott. 
Baptist. 

Skerrard. 

Robert  A., 

of  Steubenville. 

Thomas  G., 
of  Fremont. 

Sherrard. 
David  C. 

Robert. 
John  H. 
Thomas  J. 

Sherrard. 
Robert  W. 

Sherrard. 

Blanche. 
Zella. 

Sherrard. 
Emma  V., 
m.  H.  C.  Elliott. 

Elliot. 
R.  Sherrard. 
Lillie  B. 
Harry  S. 

Sherrard. 
Jane  H., 
m.  J.  C.  R.  Ewing, 

Eivin£. 
Eleanor,  Anna, 
Sherrard,  Margaret. 

Sherrard. 
Virginia,  Hallock  C. 
Mary  C,  Robert  A. 

Sherrard. 
Thomas  G. 

Sherrard. 
Alexander  C. 

Sherrard. 
Margaret  J.,  Mary  A. 
John  C,  William  J. 

Gamble. 
JTcincinnati. 

Gamble. 
David  B.. 
of  Cincinnati. 

Gamble. 
Lilhe. 
Edwin. 

Gamble. 
Thomas  John. 

Gamble, 
John  William, 

of  Vaughn. 
Clarke, 

of  Toronto. 

Ga^nble. 

Elizabeth, 

m.  William  Greey. 

Greey. 
Mary  McCauley, 
Frances  Mary, 
John  Gamble, 
Anne  Isabelle  E. 

Irvine. 
James. 

m.  John  Morrison. 

Irvine. 

Hugh, 
of  Louisville. 

Irmne. 

Mary, 
m.  Samuel  H.  Mer- 

Meriuin. 

Ann  T. 
Galena  R. 
Hugh  Irvine. 
Susie  B. 
Samuel  A. 

Morrison. 

Nancy, 
m.  John  Barnett. 

Barnett. 

John  M. 
Martha  Jane, 
m.  Thomas  Pollock 

Barnelt. 
James,  Agnes,  Mar- 
garet. 

Follock. 
Agnes  M., 
m.  S.  S.  Gilso  . 

Gilson 
Helen,  Mary,  Louise. 

Conn. 

Rebecca, 
m.    Thomas    G. 
Sherrard, 
of  Fremont. 

Sherrard. 
Thomas  G. 

Sherrard. 
Alexander  C. 

Sherrard. 
Margaret  J. 
Mary  A. 
John  C. 
William  J. 
James  E. 
Jacob  H. 

400 


THE  SHERKARD  FAMILY. 
III.     THE   KITHCART   GENEALOGY. 


GENERATION  I.   GENERATION  2.    GENERATION  3 


GENERATION  4. 


Children  of  Children   of 

John  KHhcart.         Joscfih  Kithcart. 


Sarali(.-\ndre\vs). 


Mary. 


Anna  (.Andrews). 


John  Kithcart, 
m.  Sarah  White. 


Joseph, 
m.  Ehzabeth 
Cunningham. 


Mary  (Shi 


John. 


Cunningham, 


Joseph. 


Betsy  (Sloanaker;. 


Martha  (Sharon). 


Kezia  (Yost). 


Children  of  Sarah  {Kithcart)  Andrews. 

Mary,  Joseph   Thomas,  Frank,  Eliza- 
beth, John,  Anna,  Sarah. 


Children  of  Anna  Kithcart  Andrews. 

Joseph,  Ehzabeth.  Agnes,  Sarah,  John, 
Nancv,  William,  Thomas. 


Children  of  Mary  (Kithcart)  Slicrrard. 

Mary  Anne  (Hill). 
Joseph  Kithcart. 
David  Cathcart. 
Elizabeth  (Kithcart). 
Robert. 


Children  of  John  Kithc 

Catherine  (Button). 
Joseph. 


Children  of  Cunningham  Kithcart. 

Elizabeth  .\xm  (Parkinson). 
Joseph  .Addison. 
Catherine  D. 
Sarah  (Barkhurst). 
Martha  Ellen  (Henderson). 
William  Smiley. 
James  Thomas. 
Mary  Elthisa  (Elliott). 


Children  of  Joseph   Kithcart. 

Rebecca  B.  (Dickey), 
Mary  L.  (Bracken). 
Sarah  Louisa  (Page). 


Children  of  Betsy  [Kithcart)  Sloanaker. 

John,  Joseph,  Abraham,  Daniel,  Bar- 
nett,  William,  Elizabeth,  Sarah, 
Kezia. 


Children  of  Martha  {Kithcart)  Sharon. 

William,  Joseph,  Sarah  Jane,  John, 
Elizabeth,  Cunningham,  Alexander, 
Martha  Ellen. 


Children  of  Kezia  {Kithcart)   Yost. 

George,  Mary,  Rachel,  Elizabeth, 
Martha,  Sarah,  Michael,  Margaret, 
Hannah,  Caroline,  Catherine. 


FA  MIL  I  ■  GENE  A  L  O  GIES. 
III.     THE    KITHCART   GENEALOGY. 


401 


GENERATION  $. 

GENERATION  6. 

Children  of  Mary  Anne  (Sherrard)  Hill. 
Rosamond  C. 
Elizabeth  Jane. 

Willis  H.,  James  F.,  Mary  H.,  David  R.,  Julia  C. 
Henrietta  M.,  Mary  S.,  Xannie  M. 

Mary  (Bennett). 

Robert  Sherrard 

Children  of  David  Cathcart  Sherrard. 
Laura  A.  (Mooney) 

Lottie  S.,  Emma,  Mary  A.,  Nettie. 

Dora. 

Ida. 

Hattie. 

Blanche  M.,  Zella. 

Harry,  Ida,  Robert. 

Milan,  Robert,  Jessie,  Howard,  Orie,  Lulu. 

Clarence. 

Mabel,  Louis. 

Hattie  B.  (Tindall) 

Robert  W 

John  F 

Emma  V.  (.Smith) 

Rose  T.  (Tindall) 

IdaM. 

Children  of  Robert  Sherrard. 

Emma  Virginia  (Elliot) 

William. 
Henry  Comingo. 
Thomas  Johnson. 
Robert  Stan'on. 
Mary  Catherine. 

Robert  Sherrard,  Lillie  B.,  Harry  S. 

Children  of  Catherine  {Kithcart)  Dution. 
Elizabeth  Jane. 

Children  of  Joseph  Kithcart. 
John  Albert 

Nancys.  JosephB.,  Mary  H.,  Lizzie  J., Wilma.^. 
Margaret,  Paul,  Percy. 

Velma. 

Louella,  Earl. 
Frank. 

Henry  Comingo. 

Mary  (Orr; 

Emma. 

Elizabeth  Jane  (Walker) 

Anna  K.  (Cleaver)       

Jessie  B. 
Martha  Ellen. 

Mary  Jane. 

Children  of  Rebecca  B.  {Kithcart)  Dickey. 
Mary  Ada. 
Martha. 

Children  of  Mary  /,.  (Kithcart)  Bracken. 
loseph  Willard. 
Walter. 
Edith. 

402 


THE  SHERRARD  EAMILV. 
IV.     THE   JOHNSON    GENEALOGY. 


GENERATION    I. 


John  (?)  Johnston. 


County  Down, 
Ireland. 


GENERATION    2. 


Child  re  n  of 
John  \^f)  Johnston. 

John, 

remained  in 

Ireland, 


Elizabeth  Laughlin. 


Esther, 
Hugh  Jackson. 


James    Hindman. 


Margaret, 

m. 

Robert  Anderson. 


Elizabeth, 

m. 

William  Campbell. 


Richard, 

m. 

Jane  Bradford. 


GENERATION    3. 


Children  of 
William  Johnston, 


James. 


GENERATION  4. 


Children  of  James  Johnson^ 
Margaret  Ann  (Mutchmore). 

Mary  (Dickerson). 


Children  of  Esther 
{Johnston)  Jackson. 

Nancy  (Hindman) 
m.  her  cousin, 
John  Hindman. 


Children  of  John  Hindman. 
Jane  (Sherrard). 

Elizabeth  (Lee). 


Children  of  Jane 
[Johnston)  Hindman. 

John. 

Richard. 

Robert. 


Children  of 
Richard  Johnston, 

Mary  (Allison). 

James. 

William. 

Elizabeth  (Stockton). 

John. 

Richard. 

Thomas. 

Jane  (Morrison). 

David. 

George. 


Children  of  Robert  Hindman. 
Elizabeth  (Gray). 


Children  of  Mary  {Johnson) 
Allison. 


Jonathan, 


Children  of  William  Johnson. 
Rev.  WiUiam  F. 


Children  of  Joh  n  Johnson. 

Richard  Van  Eman,  Joseph 
Bradford,  and  John. 


Children  of  Thomas  Johnson, 

Thomas,  John,  Katie  (Sher- 
rard), David,  Elizabeth, 
and  George, 


Children  of  Jane  {Johnson) 
Mori  ison. 


John. 


Children  of  David  Johnson. 

John,  Pamelia,  Walter,  Mary 
Alice. 


Children  of  Georg-e  Johnson. 

Emma   (Jennings),    Samuel, 
Albert,  Tracv. 


FAMILY  GENEALOGIES. 
tV.     THE  JOHNSON   GENEALOGY. 


403 


GENERATION  5. 


Children  of  Margaret  Ann 
{Johnson)  Afutchmore. 
Martha  (Tallman). 


Children  of  Mary  {Johnsofi) 

Dickerson. 

Harvey,  Anna  (Hunter),  Ruth,  Flora, 


Children  of  Jane  {Hindman)  Sherrard. 
Nancy. 

John  Hindman. 
Jane. 

Susan  Cathcart  (Orr). 
Sarah. 

William  Henry. 
Thomas  Johnson. 


Children  of  Elizabeth  {Hindman)  Lee 
Mary  (Pry),  Nancy,  and  Elizabeth 
Jane  (Scott). 


Children  of 
Elizabeth  {Hindman^  Gray. 
Ella  and  John. 


Children  of  Jonathan  Allison, 
Mary,  Margaret  (Dickson),  Albert. 
Thomas,  Edwin,  William,  John, 
Ralph,  and  Jane. 


Children  of  Rev,   Wm.  F.Johnson. 
William,  Mary,  Edwin,  Bertie,  Jan( 
Frank,  Walter,  and  Dora. 


Children  of  Richard  V.  Johnson, 
Rebecca  Jane,  and  William  Lee. 


Children  of  Joseph  Bradford  Johnson 
Ella  Maud,  John  T..  and  Charles  C. 


Children  of  Thomas  Johnson. 
William,  and  Bessie. 


Children  of  Katie  {Johnson)  Sherrard. 
Thomas  Johnson,  Robert  Stanton, 
and  Mary  Catherine. 


GENERATION   6. 


Children  of 
Martha  {Muichmore)  Tallman. 
Ina. 


GENERATION  7, 


Children  of  John  Hindman  Sherrard,     Children  of  Jane  H. 

Jane  Hindman  (Ewing),  Anna  Racheli  [Sherrard)  Ewing. 

(Blachly),  John   Hughes,   Robertj   Eleanor,  Anna, 

Maurice,  Mary  Fulton,  Elizabeth    John  Sherrard, 


,  and  Helen  Ev, 


Children  of  Susan  C.  (Sherrard)  Orr. 
Robert  Sherrard.  William  Culbert- 
son,  Harry  Franklin,  and  Jane 
Hindman. 


Margaret  Rhe 

\children  of  Anna  R 
I  {Sherrard)  Blachly 
I  Stephen   Lindley. 
!    John  Sherrard. 


Children  of  Thomas  Johnson  Sherrard. 

Virginia,   Hallock  Campbell,  Mary 

Campbell,  and  Robert  Andrew. 

Children  of  Elizabeth  J.  {Lee)  Scott. 
Lee. 


INDEX. 


PAGE,     I 

ACCIDENT,  serious,  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard    .  306 

■**■     Allegheny  bridge,  narrow  escape  on  ...    .  171 

Anderson,  Rev.  Joseph 69 

Antiquities,  Sherrard 3^* 

Armstrong,  Gabriel,  story  of    ... 30 

Associate  Reformed  Church 7-j 

pACKWOUDS,  perils  of 89 

^     Banks  in  early  times      i45 

Banns  published 127 

Baptists,  early  churches 70 

Bargain,  hard,  of  a  brother 115 

Bascom,  Rev.  Mr 71 

Beatty,  Rev.  Charles  C 260 

Bible  Christians 74 

Bigotry,  psalm-singing 70 

Birthday  letters 359 

Birthplace  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 44 

Boating  in  early  times 151 

Boyne,  Battle  of  the 25 

Braddock.  General 3 

Brandywine.  Battle  of 138 

Brick  burning 262 

Brookville 317 

Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of 6 

^CALCULATIONS,  close 60 

^     Calderhead,  Rev.  James 74 

Capiina  Experiences 81 

Captina  farm  purchased 59 

Captina,  moving  to  .    .    .           82 

Captina  farm  sold,  and  why 91,  92 

Captina,  leaving 93 

Caprina.  conditions  of  sale 93 

Campbell,  Hon.  James 317 

Campbell,  Mary  R 317 

Carmichael,  James 228 

Cithcart,  Alexander 24 

Cathcart,  Alexander,  Ancestors  of 25 

Cathcart,  Alexander,  children  of 27 

Cathcart,  Alexander,  emigration  of ■  28 

Cathcart,  Alexander,  letter  from  his  wife     ....  3J0 

Cathcart,  Alexander  death  of 30 

Cathcart,  Andrew V9 


PAGE. 

Cathcart,  Andrew,  account  of 343 

Cathcart,  David 28,  254 

Cathcart,  David,  marriage  of 30 

Cathcart,  David,  death  of 30,  254 

Cathcart,  Susannah      30, 254 

Centre  Church 78 

Centre  Church,  relations  with 173 

Centre  church,  Robert  A.  Sherrard  elder  in    .    .    .  202 

Chambersburg 319 

Chapin,  Rev.  Dr 304 

Church  dues  at  Centre 173 

Church  membership  at  Centre 174 

Churches,  early  in  Ohio 67 

Church  lawsuit      ....           239 

Cosing  words 327 

Coat,  cut  of  and  religion 71 

College,  Washington  4  Jefferson 279,  315 

Comingo,  Rev.  Henry  G 326 

Conaway,  Charles  and  his  tricks 76 

Conaway,  Rev.  Samuel 70 

Conaway,  Rev.  Samuel  and  Bible  Christians  ...  74 

Congress  land,  entering 14J 

Contracts  before  marriage      162 

Congress  land  entered 140,  1S4 

Church,  going  home  from iig 

Constitution,  good,  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard  ....  loi 

Copperhead,  bitten  by 90 

Courtship,  first,  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 114 

Courtship  second,  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard    ....  208 

Cousin,  a  pretty 120 

Cozard,  Rev.  Jacob 215 

Crawford's  Campaign 9 

Crawford's  Defeat 12 

Cunningham  Family 124 

"T^AM,  bursting  of  at  Rush  Run 112 

^—^     Damaged  flour 153 

Davis,  Robert  and  Family 205 

Deer  hunting 86 

Disturbing  a  religious  meeting 77 

Dollar,  first  earned 84 

Dream,  a  remarkable i*»2 

Dunlap's  Creek  Academy      314 

405 


406 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

pCONOMY,  domestic lOj 

-^     Economy,  early      ^^ 

Education,  early  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 131 

Education,  early  methods  of 58 

Elder  in  Centre 202 

Elder  in  Steubenville =97 

Election,  Presidential  in  1S36 256 

Elliot,  H.  Clay,  marriage  of 283 

Elliot,  R.  Sherrard  .   .               283 

Elliot,  Lillie 283 

Elliot,  Harry      283 

Elliot,  Thomas  of  Ireland 332 

Ellis,  circuit  rider 73 

English  Grammar,  studying 202 

Enniskillen =4 

Entailment  by  will 241 

Escape  of  James  Paull "9 

Escape  of  John  Sherrard '5 

Evans,  Oliver 11° 

Ewing,  Rev.  J.  C.  Rhea =95 

E.vample,  influence  of 266 

FAMILY  Afflictions 178 

Family  Genealogies •  395 

Family  History ^ 

Family  Letters 3=9 

Family  Records 3^7 

Fee,  wedding,  first 13° 

Fee,  wedding,  second 215 

Ferguson,  William 5" 

Ferguson,   Katy's  wedding 167 

Ferguson,  William,  visit  to 205 

Flax  scutching 94 

Flood  of  1832 243 

Flour,  damaged ^53 

Flour  inspection 158 

"Flying  Camp" 6 

Foot  cut,  Thomas 62 

Fort  Delaware  in  1864 306 

Foyle,  Lough i 

Fremont  in  1824 "95 

French  leave  of  Richard  Hall 64 

Fulton,  Kezia  N 293 

GALLOWAY,  John 160 

Galloway,  Mrs 125 

Gamble,  Andrew      29 

Gamble,  Andrew,  death  of 335 

Gamble,  John  of  Thunder  Hill 337 

Gamble,  Ann 24 

Gamb'e,  David 24 

Gist,  Thomas 4 

Grammar,  studying  English 202 

Grant   Narcissa 272 

"Grip"  the  Tyler 66 

Guthridge,  Susann.th 30 


PAGE. 

TT  ALL,  Richard 61 

^      Hall,  Richard,  farm 61 

Happiness  of  married  life 142 

Harbaugh,  Daniel,  death  of 14 

Harrison  Campaign         264 

Hill,  Joseph,  trip  with 254 

Hill,  Joseph  W,,  marriage 284 

Hill,  Joseph  W.,  death 285 

Hill,  Jonathan 36 

Hindinan  Ancestry 216 

Himlman,  James ' 217 

Hindman.  John,  birth 218 

Hindman,  John,  moves  to  Ohio 218 

Hindman,  John,  character  of 220 

Hindman,  John,  death  of 222 

Hindman,  death  of  Jane  Johnston 219 

Hindman,  Jane,  birth  of 218 

Hindman,  Jane,  interview  with 209 

Hindman,  "my  wife  Jane" 224 

Hindman,  Richard 219 

Hindman,  Robert 219 

Hindman,  Nancy  Jackson,  second  marriage  ,    .    .  223 

Holy  Land,  travehng  in 280 

Home,  new,  in  Ohio  in  1805 49 

Hone,  Lough  Neagh 35 

Hopewell  Church 71 

Housekeeping,  first 143 

House,  building  new  at  Sugar  Hill      142 

House,  movuig  into  new 264 

How  it  was  made  up 212 

Hughes,  James 338 

Huguenot  Ancestry 2 

TCE,  crossing  at  Connellsville 165 

Infare,  first  of  Robert  A.  Sherrurd      .....  132 

Infare,  second  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 215 

Influenza 66 

Inquest  over  Thomas  G.  Sherrard 198 

Insurrection,  Whisky 40 

Introduction,  important 98 

Irvine,  Antiquities 364 

Irvine,  Alexander 349 

Irvine,  Baptist,  account  of 349 

Irvine,  Betsy 118,  299 


JACKSON,  Hugh 

J     Jackson,  Nancy 

Jackson,  elder  John  in  Centre  . 

Jaw  out  of  joint 

Johnston,  Margaret 

Johnston,  Family 

Johnston,  Esther 

Johnston,  Jane 

Johnston,  Richard 

Johnson.  Bradford 

Johnson,  Richard  Van  Eman    . 


407 


PAGE. 

Johnson,  Dr.  Thomas 273 

Jones.  Presiding  Elder 73 

Journal,  daily  begun 259 

Journeys,  Various 201 

TV-  ENTUCKY  land  entered 5 

■^     Kentucky,  second  trip  to ^o 

Kentucky  land,  1.400  acres  of 41 

Kerr,  Rev.  David  R 285 

Kithcart.  Joseph  (i) 98 

Kithcart,  Joseph,  his  estate 161 

Kithcart,  Joseph,  (2)  death  of 296 

Kithcart,  Mother-in-law,  keeping  house 192 

Kithcart,  Mrs    Elizabeth,  second  marriage.   .    .    .  160 

Kithcart,  Mar>' ....  :i4 

Kithcart,  Thomas 121 

Kithcart,  Joseph  (3) 275 

Kithcart  Ancestry 123 

T    ABOR-SAVING  machinery no 

Lancaster,  Pa 6 

Land  warrant  sold 238 

Land  warrants,  locating 278 

Langly,  John,  a  lofty  jumper 53 

Laurel  Hill  Church 149 

Lawyer's  fee  ....            242 

Lease  of  land  in  Ireland 26 

Lee,  Robert 298 

Letter  announcing  death  of  William  Sherrard  .  .    .  179 

Letter,  Uncle  David  on  death  of  Uncle  William.   .  181 

Letter,  Ann  Cathcart  to  Alexander  Cathcart  .   .    .  330 

Letter,  George  Gamble  to  Andrew  Gamble  ....  331 

Letter,  William  Gamble  to  David  Cathcart  .   ...  333 
letter,  John  Gamble  to  David  Cathcart    .  334,  335,  336 

Letter,  James  Hughes  to  David  Cathcart  .    .    .  338,  339 

Letter,  Andrew  Cathcart  to  :Mary  Sherrard  .    .  340,  341 

Letter,  Andrew  Cathcart  to  David  Cathcart  .    .    .  342 

Letter,  David  Cathcart  to  Andrew  Cathcart  .   .   .  345 

Letter,  David  Cathcart  to  Mary  Sherrard    ....  346 

Letter,  Baptist  Irvine  to  David  Cathcart  .        ...  347 

Letter,  David  Cathcart  to  Baptist  Irvine 348 

Letter,  Robert  A.  Sherrard  to  Hugh  Irvine.    ,    .    .  349 

Letter,  Hugh  Irvine  to  Robert  A    Sherrard     .    .    ,  352 

Letter,  William  to  David  A.  C.  Sherrrard    ....  353 

Letter,  David  A.  C.  to  John  Sherrard 354 

Letter,  John  to  Robert  A.    Sherrard 355 

Letter,  Robert  A.  to  Thomas  G.  Sherrard  ....  356 

Letter,  Thomas  G.  to  Robert  A.  Sherrard    ....  358 

Letter,  birthday,  David  to  mother 359 

Letter,  birthday,  Robert  to  mother 361 

Letter,  James  Usher  to  Robert  A.  Sherrard    .    .    .  363 

Letters,  Old 329 

Lexington,  Battle  of 6 

Liberty  pole 40 

Love  at  first  sight 116 


PAGE. 

Love,  true  not  smooth 211 

Love,  differences  made  up, 212 

Lover,  cheerful  advice  10 212 

Lovers  going  to  church 122 

ly/TcCLELLAND,  John's,  farm 47 

■^*^     McClure,  Eva 205 

McCormick,  William's,  love  experience 117 

McMillan,  Rev.  John,  D.   D 219 

McWha  and  Sugar  Hill 244 

Maple  sugar,  making 58 

Marriage  contracts 162 

Marriage  of  Thomas  G.  Sherrard 176 

Marriage,  first,  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 129 

Marriage,  second,  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 215 

Marriage  contracts  discussed 162 

Marriage  contracts,  sequel  to 164 

Marriages,  second,  discussed    ...       201 

Maniage  License  Law  ot  Pennsylvania 318 

Married  life,  happiness  of ...  142 

Married  life 132 

Martin,  Rev.   Enoch 79 

Mason,  Isaac 4 

Massacre,  Indian 18 

Mercer  County,  trip  to 170 

Methodism,  early 70 

Methodists,  shouting 72 

Milling  business 226 

Miller's  life,  hardships  of  a 107 

Miller  of  Kentucky 41 

Mingo  Bottom 10 

Misfortunes  of  John  Sherrard 36 

Morgan's  raid 281 

Morrison  Family 118 

Moimt  Pleasant  in  1805 49 

TSJATURALIZATION  of  John  Sherrard    ...  7 

-'■^      Neighbors  at  Sugar  Hill 247 

Newton  Limavady 1 

New  Orleans  to  Philadelphia 157 

/^HIO,  Sherrard  family  remove  to 48 

^     Oliver,  Thomas 73 

One  Hundred  Days'  Service 306 

Orr,   Culbertson 307 

Overwork 146 

pARMER,  Ezekiel 75 

Palsy,  stroke  of  on  John  Sherrard 46 

Pastors  of  Sherrard  Family 326 

Partnership,  Rush  Run,  dissolved 143 

Patent  Notes 75 

Patent  Rights no 

Paull,  George 4,  ^7 

PauU.  James,  wonderful  escape  of 19 

P^ull,  Rev.  George 24 


408 


IX DEW 


PAGE. 

Paull  Family 24 

Perils  of  the  backwoods 8g 

Pioneers  at  work 88 

Pittsburgh,  selling  flour  in 23 

Pleasant  Hill,  why  named 210 

Pleasant  Hill,  removing  to 235 

Pleasant  Hill  purchased 239 

Pleasant  Hill  sold 246 

Poles,  political 301 

Poll-book,  making 84 

Pool,  John,  and  the  bank  note 252 

Pottery,  Steubenville 279 

Power,  Rev  James 9,  149 

Presbyterianism 68 

Property,  Rush  Run,  divided 143 

Providence  and  Snakes 54 

Psalm-singing  bigotry 70 

Pumpkin  Flood 85 

QUAKERS 68 

"D  AILS,  making 63 

Rattlesnakes 52 

Redstone  Settl-ment 4 

Revolution,  John  Sherrard  and  the 7 

Rhea,  Rev.  John 78 

Riley,  Captain  James 184 

Rimersburg,  drive  to 304 

Robbers,  al  <rm  about      231 

Rope,  making 96 

Rodgers,  John,  account  of 11 

Rush  Run  purchased 87 

Rush  Run  mill 97 

Rush  Run,  moving  to 94 

Rush  Run,  building  mill 99 

Rush  Run,  mill  raised       103 

Rush  Run,  mill  started 106 

Rush  Run  relics 104 

Rush  Run  mill  sold 232 

CABBATH-KEEPING,  old  fashioned 119 

^     Salmon,  Sarah  A 279 

Salt,  scarcity  of        83 

Sandusky  Plains,  Battle  of 10 

Saw-mill  repaired 99 

School  teachers 227 

Scott,  Rev.  Abram 79 

Scott,  John 209 

Sfott,  Rev.  JohnW.,  D.D 314 

Scutching  flax 94 

Settlers,  character  of  early 33 

Sharon,  William 50 

Sharon,  William,  as  a  landlord 57 

Sharon,  John,  and  snakes 54 

Sherrard  Antiquities 362 


Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 


Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 


Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sheriard. 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard, 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard. 
Sherrard, 


Hugh 18 

William  (i) I 

John,  birth i 

John,  emigration 3 

John,  in  the  Revolution 7 

John,  naturuiization  of 7 

John,  marvellous  escape  of 15 

John,  courtship  of 24 

John,  marriage  of 34 

John,  children  of 35 

John,  death  of 80 

Grandmother  visits  America 37 

William  (2),  drowning  of        179 

William,  letters  about  death  .    .    .    .    179,181 

David  A.  C.,  infancy 38 

David  A.  C,  bargain  with  Robert  .   .    .  115 

David  A.  C  ,  first  marriage 128 

David  A.  C,  second  marriage 299 

David  A  C,  death      299 

John  J.,  and  War  of  1812 101 

John  J.,  marriage 207 

John  J.,  children  of 303 

John  J.,  death 302 

Robert  A.,  birth 39 

Robert  A.,  nearly  drowned 43 

Robert  A.,  at  sixteen 51 

Robert  A.,  bitten  by  copperhead    ...  90 

Robert  A  ,  part  in  War  of  1812    ....  101 

Robert  A.,  first  courtship 114 

Robert  A.,  engagement 123 

Robert  A.,  first  marriage 126 

Robert  A.,  death  of  first  wife 189 

Robert  A.,  second  courtship 208 

Robert  A.,  second  marriage 215 

Robert  A.,  church  membership     ....  174 

Robert  A.,  Elder  in  Centre 202 

Robert  A.,  Elder  in  Steubenville  ....  297 

Robert  A  ,  serious  accident 306 

Robert  A.  as  a  writer 301 

Robert  A.,  trip  east 303 

Robert  A.,  closing  days 310 

Robert  A.,  last  illness 320 

Robert  A.,  death 321 

Mary,  last  illness 188,  189 

Mary  Anne,  marriage  and  history   .    .    .  284 

Joseph  K.,  life  of 324 

David  A.  C   (2),  personal  history    .    .    .  270 

Elizabeth,  account  of 275 

Robert  Jr.,  history  of 276 

Nancy,  history  of 286 

John  Hindman,  history  of 292 

Jane,  account  of 300 

Susan  C,  history  of 3^7 

Sarah,  account  of 268,  325 

William  H.,  life  of 321 


IXDEX. 


409 


PAGE. 

Sherrard,  Thomas  J.,  history  of 312 

Sherrard,  Virginia 317.  3^9 

Sherrard,  Hallock  C ^^^,  Z^9 

Sherrard,  May  C 317.  3^9 

Sherrard,  Robert  Andrew  (2) 3^9 

Sherrard,  Emma  Virginia 279 

Sherrard,  Henry  C 279 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G.  cuts  his  foot  .  • 62 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G.,    first    trip 15^ 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G. ,  second  trip 157 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G  ,  third  trip 160 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G.,  marriage 176 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G..  fourth  trip 176 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G.,  moves  to  Sandusky    ....  186 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G.,  death  of 193 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G  ,  theory  of  death  of    ...   .  198 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G,  character  of 199 

Sherrard,  Thomas  G.,  children  of 200 

Sherrard,  Rebecca,  removes  to  Fayette  Coimty     .  272 

Sherrard,  Jane  Hindman,  her  later  hfe 327 

Sherrard  Family  remove  to  Washington,  Pa  .    .    .  324 

Sherrard,  Betsy  Irvine,  death  of 299 

Singing  schools,  early      75 

Sloan,  Rev.  D.  Harvey 314 

Slavery  in  1818 153 

Slave,  runaway      155 

Sleep,  loss  of 109 

Strength,  tests  of      108 

Spring,  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner 303 

Snake  story 54 

Snodgrass,  Rev.  James 68 

Stanton,  Edwin  M 242 

Sugar  Hill  farm  purchased 244 

Sugar  Hill,  moving  to 247 

Sugar  Hill,  final  payment  on        261 

Sugar  Hill,  neighbors  at 247 

Sugar  Hill  sold 324 

Swim,  learning  to 177 

Swimming  the  Ohio 168 

Sunday  Schools  in  early  times      170 

•"r* ABLE,  father's  writing .    311 

■'■      "Tomahawk  right  " 5,      f 


Toothache  cures 134,  136 

Trading  Down  the  River 151 

Tripwithjoseph  W.  Hill 234 

Trip  through  Southern  Ohio 203 

Trunk,  old  at  Sugar  Hill 143 

Turning-lathe,  primitive 56 

T  JSHER,  James,  letter  tu  father 363 

A  7-AUGHN,  the  skeptic 54 

^      Vote,  first  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 84 

Voting  for  President  in  1836 256 

WAR°f'8z. 100 

**       Water-smelling 251 

Watt,  Martha 299 

Waugh,  Rev.  Joseph 293 

Wedding  outfit  of  Mary  Kithcart 137 

Wedding  day  at  Pleasant  Hill 215 

Well  digging 251 

Welday,  Catharme  M 271 

Westbrook,  William 225 

Whigs 265 

Whiskey  Insurrection 40 

White,  Jesse 84,138 

Widower,  advice  to 208 

Wig,  first  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 261 

Will,  drawing  a 240 

Will,  last  of  Robert  A.  Sherrard 321 

Williamson,  Colonel  David 16 

Williamsburg,  Va 6 

Wolves  very  numerous 83 

Wood,  William,  settlement  with 232 

Welsh.  Josiah 315 

Woolfolk,  Leander  C 315 

Writer,  Robert  A.  Sherrard,  as  a 301 

WANKEE  scutching  flax 94 

yANKSVILLEin  I816 141 

^     ZoU,  Jacob 103 


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